India plans to triple steel production by 2030

India's Ministry of Steel recently published a strategic document for the future of India – and beyond.
The draft policy named “The National Steel Policy (NSP), 2017” claims that India should produce 300Mt per year by 2030-31. It is worth remembering that according to official data of the World Steel Association, India’s crude steel production for 2016 was 95.6Mt (up by 7.4% on 2015). India had a capacity of 22Mt in 1991...

The Minister of Steel Chaudary Birender Singh aims to increase per capita steel consumption to 160kg from its present 61kg. There is significant potential for growth, as several initiatives in the infrastructure and construction sector are planned for the years to come: affordable housing, expansion of railway networks, development of the shipbuilding industry, opening up of defence sector for private participation, and the anticipated growth in the automobile sector, they're all expected to create significant demand for steel in the country.

India’s competitive advantage in steel production is driven I.a. from the indigenous availability of high grade iron ore and non-coking coal – two critical inputs of steel production. There is though limited availability in India of other essential raw materials such as high grade manganese ore & chromite, coking coal, steel grade limestone, refractory raw material, nickel and ferrous scrap.
Due to shortage of domestic coking coal, both in terms of quantity and quality, pig iron producers in India now have to significantly depend on imports. One of the goals for 2030-31 is to reduce import dependence on coking coal to 50% increasing domestic availability of washed coking coal.
By that year, India will seek to domestically meet the entire demand of high grade automotive steel, electrical steel, special steels and alloys for strategic applications.

The country is currently the third largest steel producer in the world. It is likely to emerge as the second largest in a few years.
The entire document is available at this link >>
 

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Credit for picture: worldsteel / Robert Kolykhalov