National Steel Policy to unearth untapped potential

Visakhapatnam: The Department of Heavy Industry, Government of India, organised ‘International Metal and Foundry Expo’ under the aegis of Indian Foundry Organisation through TAFCON Projects in Mumbai on Wednesday. Abhijit Ghosh, Chairman, HEC, and P Madhusudan, CMD, RINL, jointly inaugurated the expo.

While delivering the key-note address, CMD of RINL P Madhusudan said that the government’s ‘Make in India’ campaign is a shot in the arm to venture beyond the traditional and shift the focus gradually from services to production. The ‘Make in India’ aims at boosting manufacturing in the country and increase the contribution of manufacturing to GDP from the present 15 per cent to 30 per cent.

The manufacturing is a very important sector for any country and encouraging it would reduce costs and provide more employment, the CMD said and added that the capital goods industry is the ‘mother’ of all manufacturing industries and is of strategic importance to national security and economic independence.

Madhusudan mentioned that Steel Industry has been growing significantly during the last few years to emerge as the third largest producer in the world. In order to provide further impetus to the sector, the National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017 has been launched providing the requisite policy framework to unearth the untapped potential of the industry.

The NSP 2017 aspires to achieve a crude steel capacity of 300 MT and per capita consumption of steel of 160 kg from the current level of about 62 kg by 2030-31. The trend would translate into progressive additional investment of Rs.10 lakh crore by 2030-31. The employment generation would increase significantly to about 36 lakh by 2031 from the current level of 25 lakh, Madhusudan explained.

The three-day expo would provide an opportunity for technocrats and industrialists of the metal, steel, foundry and mindustries to showcase their products and new developments.