No target fixed for steel production by 2025: Govt

The government has not set any steel production target by 2025 as the output will largely depend on domestic demand and export potential, Parliament was informed today.
"Government has not fixed any target of steel production by 2025. Steel is a deregulated and market driven industry," Steel Minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in a written reply to Lok Sabha on a query on the estimated target fixed for steel production by 2025 under the 'Make in India' programme.
Production of steel is based on the domestic demand and export potential, he added.
On several instances, the Steel Ministry has said that its target is to achieve a capacity of 300 MTPA by 2025.

Clarifying on the issue, government sources said there cannot be a target for steel production, but the government has only said it is their vision.
Government can only set a target for the public sector undertakings (PSUs) in the steel sector but not the private companies. The projection of 300 MTPA steel capacity is the government's vision, which is based on the potential demand for steel by 2025, they added.

"Government cannot control or set targets for the private sector as this would amount to regulating the sector. So there can be no question of setting up a target. The target has been set for PSUs only," sources added.

The ministry in its annual report for 2014-15 said: "In order to achieve growth target of production of 300 million tonnes of steel by 2025, a concept of Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) is being pursued with respective State Governments of Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Jharkhand and Karnataka."
The target of achieving a steel production capacity of 300 MTPA was first set by the UPA government led by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in July 2013.
The UPA government had then set up a High Level Committee a master plan for achieving the steel production capacity.