Separate funding agency mooted for steel sector

It also asked the Ministry to facilitate setting up of manufacturing units for equipment required in a steel plant and reduce dependence on imports of such items, which may cost $120 billion, for adding 200 mtpa capacity. India at present has about 90 mtpa steel production capacity. A high-level committee, headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, had recently drawn a roadmap for taking the capacity to 300 mtpa by 2025-26.

"The 200 MT increase in steel capacity on incremental basis would require huge capital investments, almost about 200 billion dollars at about $ one billion dollar per million tonne capacity," SAIL Chairman C S Verma said. This massive requirement would entail coming together of banks and financial institutions to pool in their resources and come up with a dedicated body to finance these projects on the similar lines of Power Finance Corporation (PFC), he said speaking at an event here. "PFC is committed to the integrated development of power and its associated sectors. Therefore, a dedicated financial institution, on the lines of PFC in the power sector, should be floated by the Ministry of Steel," Verma said.