Frontline Steel Majors Keep Away From Seminar

The two-day steel seminar 'Promotion of steel consumption -- Role of human capital' which concluded here yesterday wore a decidedly damp look with frontline steel majors keeping a lower profile than usual. Many others including Essar Steel, Mukand and the Steel Authority of India (SAIL) were conspicuous by their absence.

One could say the seminar kicked off on a wrong note from the planning stage itself when the organisers had to readjust the venue back to the Oberoi Grand from the originally intended Netaji Indoor Stadium.

The organising committee was clearly disappointed with the manner in which the state government refused permission for use of the stadium almost at the final hour, ministry officials said.

 

The ovearall mood of industry captains at the seminar appeared far from amiable. Recession was foremost in the minds of most and even though targets were expected to be reached during this fiscal it is obvious the steel industry needs more than sops like tax holidays to reach competitive level.

Jamshed J Irani, MD, Tata Steel, said, "The industry needs a period of stability in order to find its competitive level." He stressed the need for a level playing field and explained that while banks and other financial institutions are currently flush with funds the customers of the steel industry were cash strapped.

"Investments in steel making will continue but credit has to be made available to customers to enable them to buy steel.

This would go a long way in boosting consumption," Irani said.

SAIL did not attend the seminar due to the aircrash which killed six of the company's top level executives. SAIL chairman Arvind Pande was to make a presentation on the first day of the seminar.

There was also a total absence of foreign participants. The seminar last year had seen active participation by overseas players like US Steel, SMS Schloemann-Demag of Germany and Nippon Steel of Japan.

According to steel ministry officials, "The imminent elections and the present political situation has been the main reason for foreign delegates keeping away from the seminar this year."

At the concluding session of the seminar, R K Prasannan, development commissioner for iron and steel, government of India, announced that the theme for next year's seminar will be 'Consumer orientation -- Role of marketing and technology'.

The basic theme of the seminar -- promotion of steel consumption -- will remain the same.

The industry would also have to divert its excess capacities towards new markets which again would have to be created by the producers.

In addition the government would have to take an initiative in the development of ports, roads and the construction industry, Irani added.

S K Gupta of Jindal Vijaynagar Steel, said new markets could be created in rural areas where most of the income remains static and producers would have to communicate the uses of steel in these sectors to promote buying.