NEW DELHI: Union steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday urged India’s domestic steelmakers to ramp up their production in order to target a larger global market, especially in the context of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak.
India is currently the second largest steel producer in the world with an annual output of over 106 million tonne (MT), but it trails a long way behind China which leads the market accounting for 928.3 MT of the alloy in 2018.
“When some markets in the globe face pressure, its positive reflection is felt in some other markets. This is an automatic law. India occupies number two slot in steel production,” Pradhan pointed out, adding that the government was discussing with stakeholders on how to derive benefits from capital goods to finished products. The global steel industry will struggle with the impact of the outbreak for the next two to three years, he added while speaking on the sidelines of a conference on steel use in railways and defence.
The minister also said that the government will be putting in place a strategy paper for developing a production hub for at least 10 MT of special steel at a cost of Rs 50,000 crore by the end of 2019-20. This plan will generate employment to the tune of nearly 50,000 jobs, he said.