PSUs, railways place Rs 8,129 cr orders with domestic steel makers

In what could be a big boost to 'Make in India' drive, government PSUs and railways have placed orders for iron and steel to the tune of Rs 8,129 crore with domestic manufacturers during June 2017 to October 2018, the Ministry of Steel said Friday.

It said with such placement of orders demand for domestic iron and steel products have witnessed a substantial growth.

"Efforts made by the Ministry of Steel have ensured placement of orders for domestic iron and steel to the tune of Rs 8,129 crore from June 2017 to October 2018," the Ministry of Steel said in a statement.

It said the Ministry of Railways, ONGC, GAIL, EIL and HPCL have placed orders with domestic iron and steel manufactures for various categories of rails, pipe and tubes.

These products were earlier imported but are now being procured from domestic producers.

"Discussions are on with Ministry of Railways to increase consumption of rails manufactured indigenously either through SAIL or other domestic manufactures. Efforts are also being made to on-board sectors like Defence and CPWD so that use of steel products manufactured in India grows," the statement said.

In order to give preference to domestically manufactured iron and steel products (DMI&SP) in government procurement, Ministry of Steel had promulgated a Policy, which was notified on May 8, 2017.

To ensure that the policy is implemented in letter and spirit, a Standing Committee under the Ministry of Steel chaired by steel secretary has been constituted to oversee its implementation, the statement said.

A grievance committee has also been constituted to carry out grievance redressal which may arise while implementing the DMI&SP Policy, it said.

The Ministry of Steel had organised a Conclave in Bhubaneswar in October this year for domestic manufacturers of capital goods meant for the steel sector.

"In this Conclave MoUs worth Rs 39,400 crore were signed between foreign capital goods manufacturers and technology providers with Indian capital goods manufacturers and steel producers," it said.

This will result in the manufacturing of capital goods for the steel sector within the country in the next 4 years. This is a major shot in the arm for the 'Make in India' initiative of the Government of India.