PM urges Indian steel industry to reduce reliance on imports

"We can't be satisfied with status quo. We must strive for better and better results in years to come...The steel industry needs to find out practical ways to develop or procure technologies to produce such special grades of steel and thereby minimise our dependence on imports," Singh said at an award giving ceremony here.

Lauding the domestic steel industry for making India as the fourth largest steel making nation in the world, Singh said with the ongoing capacity additions, the country is likely to become world's second highest steel maker.

India produced 74 million tonnes steel last fiscal.

"Despite such impressive progress, our per capita steel production still lags substantially behind the global average of 215 kilogram. There are also important quality related issues in respect of several critical steel products produced and sold in our country," Singh said.

In 2004-05, per capita consumption of steel was only 34 kilogram, which has grown to 59 kilogram in 2011-12.

Increased demand of steel and comparative lower capacity addition has made India a net importer of the alloy at present.

"In the last six years our consumption of steel has grown by about 8 to 9 per cent each year. As growth in steel production lagged behind the growth in consumption, the country turned from being a marginal exporter of steel to a net importer of steel," he said.