Steel Minister interacts with SAIL customers
The event was attended by Union Steel Minister Birender Singh and Union Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai.
Addressing the gathering, the Union Steel Minister, while touching upon the government’s long-term vision for transforming the Indian steel sector, stressed upon the biggest challenge facing the industry – of boosting steel demand and increasing steel consumption.
As enunciated in National Steel Policy 2017, Shri Singh said, India would more than double steel production capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030-31.
“The challenge, however, is to grow demand during this period so that current domestic per capital steel consumption of 65 kg increases proportionately,” Singh said. This, he pointed out, could be achieved through innovative marketing.
“While the Steel Ministry is doing its bit to promote steel usage and spread awareness about the benefits of using steel over other materials, domestic steel makers also need to walk the extra mile for producing world-class steel,” he added.
He said he looked forward to suggestions and views from steel consumers to make the steel industry more robust and vibrant, and to make India a leader in steel usage and innovation.
Singh and the other dignitaries present discussed various steel industry-related issues with SAIL’s key customers from different steel-using segments in the Eastern region such as Utkarsh India Limited, PDP Steels Ltd, Skipper Ltd, Simplex Infrastructures Ltd, Texmaco Ltd, among others.
Barthwal, who also spoke at the meet, said that under the current circumstances it was vital that any gap between producers, customers and fabricators be addressed through such meets. India is currently exporting 7 million tonnes of steel and “we need to double this to increase our market presence globally”, he added.
Mondal, on her part, welcomed the views and suggestions put forth by the customers at the meet. Various issues related to pricing, deliveries, product development, etc., were discussed, and she assured that all inputs would be acted upon.
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