By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister for Steel Ram Chandra Prasad Singh in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday said the estimated value of finished steel produced during the year 2019-20 is about Rs 4.5 lakh Crores.
Steel is a de-regulated sector. Commercial decisions such as production, export/import are taken by the steel companies. However, the Government has taken various steps to reduce the input cost in steel manufacturing by increasing the availability of iron ore, which include, inter-alia, Mining and Mineral Policy reforms to ensure enhanced production and availability of iron ore, early operationalization of forfeited working mines of Odisha by the State/Central PSUs. Further, BCD on steel scrap has been exempted for a period up to March 31, 2022. Further, steps taken by the Ministry towards achieving the vision of 300 MT capacity by 2030-31 include the following:-
Notification of Domestically Manufactured Iron & Steel Products (DMI&SP) Policy for promoting procurement of Made in India steel.Notification of Steel Scrap Recycling Policy to enhance the availability of domestically generated scrap.Issuance of Steel Quality Control Orders to stop manufacturing and import of non-standardized steel.Notification of Steel Import Monitoring System (SIMS) for advanced registration of steel imports.
Notification of Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Specialty Steel with an outlay of ₹6,322 crores.Engagement with various stakeholders including industry associations and leaders of domestic steel industry to address their issues by the concerned Ministries/Departments of the Central Government and State Governments.Engagement with relevant stakeholders including from Railways, Defence, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Housing, Civil Aviation, Road Transport and Highways, Agriculture and Rural Development sectors to enhance the steel usage and overall demand for steel in the country.
Establishment of Project Development Cell in the Ministry to attract and facilitate investment in the steel sector.
The steel industry is adopting energy efficient and environment friendly technologies as part of technological up-gradation/modernisation/expansion of programme/projects. Some of these are:-
Coke Dry Quenching (CDQ) – Power generation from the waste heat from CDQ.Sinter Plant Heat Recovery (Power generation from Sinter Cooler Waste Heat).Bell Less Top Equipment (BLT) in Blast Furnace.Top Pressure Recovery Turbine (TRT) in Blast Furnace.
Pulverized Coal Injection (PCI) system in Blast Furnace.
Hot stove waste heat recovery in Blast Furnace.Dry type Gas Cleaning Plant (GCP) in Blast Furnace.Cast House/ Stock House Dedusting system.Converter Gas Recovery in BOF.
Energy Monitoring & Management System.Secondary Fume Extraction System in Steel Melting Shop.Regenerative Burners in Re-heating Furnaces of Rolling Mills.Hot charging process of continuously cast products at higher temperature directly to Rolling Mills.
Direct Rolling Process eliminating the need for Re-heating furnaces.Energy efficient technology for Hot Strip Mill: Flexible Thin Slab casting & Rolling.Near Net Shape casting: Bloom cum Beam Blank caster, Bloom cum Round caster etc.Adoption of Variable Voltage Variable Frequency (VVVF) Drives for high capacity electric motors.
The wastes being generated are effectively recycled back within the steel plants. Some wastes such as Blast Furnace slag is granulated within the steel plant and sold to cement industry. Research & Development projects have also been undertaken for effective utilization of steel slag in road making, construction, agriculture etc.
