Domestic steel sector progressing towards quality control regime: Minister

Indian steel sector is progressing towards a quality control regime with India becoming the second top global producer, Union Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh said Friday.

Singh said the sector is steadily and firmly moving towards attaining 300 million tonne (MT) steel production target by 2030-31.

Addressing an event here for presenting awards to best performing steel plants for 2016-17, the minister said the government has taken a slew of steps to promote the growth of the sector.

"Let us take pride in the fact that India is now the 2nd largest producer of steel in the world...Ministry of Steel has taken several steps to promote growth of domestic steel sector.

"The preference being given to domestic manufacturers through Domestically Manufactured Iron & Steel Products (DMI&SP) policy will lead to sustainable growth of Indian steel industry," Singh said.

To ensure production of quality steel in the country, the ministry has come out with a Quality Control Order and is committed to moving towards 100 per cent quality control regime, he said.

"We are aware of challenges being faced by few consumers and suppliers. However, we are confident that in the long-term, the move will be highly beneficial as steel goes for various critical applications such as infrastructure, where concerns related to safety and health of consumers are very important," he said.

The minister said Indian economy is now the sixth largest economy in the world and is expected to grow at a faster rate than other big economies.

"Our aim is to be a USD 10 trillion economy in the coming years. To meet the aspirations and requirements of our growing economy, we have set an ambitious target of 300 MT of crude steel output by 2030-31. We are steadily and firmly moving forward in the direction of attaining these levels," he said.

He stressed that a lot of work also needs to be done to improve the sustainability of the steel industry as it has to reduce carbon dioxide gas emission intensity in steel production in a time-bound manner.

"We must also try to quickly find out ways to use our steel melting slag which is generated in large quantities during the process of production of steel," he said adding the country must strive to become the world's number one in production of high-grade quality steel.

Emphasising on the safety of the people working in steel sector, the minister said human life is precious and all resources should be used to ensure that accidents are minimised.

"To ensure safe working conditions in our steel industry, we will be soon operationalising a Safety Directorate in the steel ministry," he said.

Tata Steel-Jamshedpur Works bagged the Prime Minister's Trophy for the best overall performance along with a cash prize of Rs 2 crore in the event.

Tata Steel was able to set new benchmarks in productivity, techno economics, innovation and R&D in 2016-17 for the domestic steel industry and its performance is close to international benchmarks in some select areas, a statement said.

The Steel Minister's Trophy along with a cash prize of Rs 1 crore was awarded to JSW Steel - Vijayanagar Works.

JSW Steel -Dolvi Works was given a certificate of appreciation along with a cash prize of Rs 25 lakh.

SAIL's Rourkela plant also won a certificate of appreciation along with Jindal Steel & Power-Raigarh Works.