By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI: Union Minister for Steel and PNG Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Monday said that decision for improvement and development of infrastructure in Steel plants of Public Sector Unit categories are taken by the concerned Public Sector Undertakings depending on their financial position and market dynamics.
Steel Authority of india Limited (SAIL) had undertaken modernisation and expansion of its five integrated steel plants at Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Bokaro (Jharkhand), Rourkela (Odisha), Durgapur (West Bengal) & Burnpur (West Bengal) and Special Steel Plant at Salem (Tamil Nadu) to enhance the crude steel capacity from 12.8 Million tonne per annum (MTPA) to 21.4 MTPA, informed Pradhan.
As part of the SAIL modernisation and expansion project, an investment of Rs.2371/- Crore was made in Salem Steel Plant to set up a new Steel Melt Shop and enhance the capacity of Cold Rolling Mill, he said.
In view of huge steel capacity available with China, the Indian Steel sector could have faced threat from cheap Chinese steel imports. Under Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), such imports would have got the advantage of preferential tariff and harmed the Indian Steel Industry. The Government’s decision not to join RCEP has been welcomed by the domestic steel industry.
During the 3rd RCEP summit, which was held on November 4th, 2019 in Bangkok, India highlighted the fact that the current structure of RCEP did not fully reflect the RCEP Guiding Principles or address the outstanding issues and concerns of India, in light of which India did not join the consensus. India also stated that the Act East Policy was the bedrock of India’s economic policy and India’s engagement with other trading partners would continue.
