By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday participated in the 33rd National Conference of All India Induction Furnace Association of India (AIIFA) on Secondary Steel Sector. Theme of the Conference was “Most advantageous route of Environment friendly steel making through Electric Induction Furnace (EIF) and its global acceptance”. Minister of State for Steel, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste was also present on the occasion.
Speaking on the occasion, Pradhan urged the industry to focus on development of new technologies and work towards export indigenous technologies to ensure more value addition and making Indian steel sector more competitive.
Talking about policy reforms, Pradhan said, “Almost half of country’s steel production is done by the secondary steel sector. We are making our policy framework more inclusive. Our Government has made raw material even more accessible to the secondary steel sector.Industry must reciprocate by producing more value added products.”
Speaking about importance of energy availability and affordability for the steel sector, Pradhan said, “Steel industry needs more affordable energy. We are exploring new sources of energy. We are moving towards a gas based economy. We are laying a big network through Urja Ganga Yojana. We have 600 Million MT biomass in the country. Through use of technology, uptake guarantee we are planning to facilitate setting up of 5000 plants for bio energy generation. “
Referring to the importance of MSMEs, the minister stated that while economies of scale has its own benefits, large industries alone cannot cater to the huge population in terms of jobs creation. “Our MSMEs play an important role in large scale employment creation. The nation cannot prosper without wealth creators. Guided by the mantra of “Minimum Government, Maximum Governance” we are committed to facilitate growth of wealth creators,” he added.
Speaking about India’s ambition to become a net steel exporter, Pradhan said, “India still imports high quality steel. We have a large market with skilled workforce. We must create an ecosystem to develop more high quality steel in the country and move towards becoming a net exporter.”
