By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: A day long National Conference on “Making India Atmanirbhar in Steel – Role of Secondary Steel Sector” on Sunday is being held at the Plenary Hall, Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi.
Speaking during the inauguration of the conference, Union Minister of Steel, Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh mentioned the suggestions from the industry will be considered and seamless, transparent and flexible process is the avowed aim of the Government of India. He said that industry has made great strides in production by moving from 22 million tonnes in 1991 to 120 million tonnes in 2021-22.
Strategy needs to be devised to reach target of 300 million tonnes by 2030 and 500 million tonnes by 2047. The Minister said that increase of Iron ore production and other needed raw materials need proper strategic directions with suitable policy support. There is an urgent need to move towards green steel and Hon’ble PM has ambitious vision on Hydrogen. Iron and steel industry will be big beneficiary as coal can be replaced by Hydrogen and our dependency on import of coal also will reduce.
The Minister of State for Steel, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste in his address urged the industry to be vocal about their requirements and put views of the industry forward with the confidence that they will be heard and the Government will work towards establishing an industry – friendly environment in our country. Secondary steel sector is a diverse industry in itself. Ideas generated through the conference will be helpful in setting policy directions for the Government.
The Minister of State for MSME, Shri Bhanu Pratap Singh Verma brought out various assistance being extended to the MSMEs by the Government and further exhorted upon the industry to come up with their suggestions which can strengthen the MSME sector in general and steel sector in particular.
The Conference has been organised with aim of providing a platform to players in the Secondary Steel sector to share their views on the challenges faced by the sector and ways in which the Ministry can create an ecosystem in which the industry can thrive. Government of India is working towards creating a Vision for India @ 2047. Towards this, it is expected that the companies will offer their inputs which can provide basis for plan of action towards achieving the goals of Vision @ 2047. Industry representatives will also give their feedback on the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the steel sector.Senior Officials from Ministry of Steel and Ministries of Coal, Mines, MSME were present during the conference.
The National Conference on “Making India Atmanirbhar in Steel – Role of Secondary Steel Sector” constitutes of two technical sessions discussing various topics in the day long deliberations.Representatives from the key players of secondary steel sector in India are presenting before the august gathering, the issues related to the sector and the way forward in achieving goals of the sector.
