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Rediff.com  » Business » National Steel Policy to chalk road map for industry

National Steel Policy to chalk road map for industry

December 09, 2002 18:33 IST
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The Centre has decided to formulate a National Steel Policy in the context of second generation reforms, restructuring and globalisation, Union Minister of State for Steel B K Tripathy said in New Delhi on Monday.

In a written reply in the Lok Sabha, Tripathy said that a committee under the chairmanship of Development Commissioner for Iron and Steel has been set up to prepare the National Draft Policy.

The Draft Committee has prepared a first draft and it was under examination in consultation with major steel producers and associations, he informed the house in reply to a query from Jashwant Singh Bishnoi.

The iron and steel industry has witnessed major achievements in the different spheres of operations as a result of the formulation of a new policy for steel sector. The crude steel production and capacity utilisation has increased by over 12 per cent over the last three years, he said.

The production of sponge iron also witnessed a steady rise over last three years and today the country is the largest producer of the product in the world.

In the areas of trade, despite trade barriers put by various countries, India has been able to maintain its net export status, he pointed out.

The export basket has shifted towards value-added goods and the apparent consumption of finished steel has risen by over 9 per cent during this period.

In the area of policy, some measures have been taken to check the surge of import of seconds and defectives and the tax structure has also been rationalised for the benefit of the steel industry in general, he informed.

State-owned Bokaro Steel Plant has suffered a loss of Rs 459 crore (Rs 4.59 billion) during 2001-02 and not to the tune of Rs 900 crore (Rs 9 billion).

The goverment does not propose to constitute a high level committee to ascertain actual loss suffered by BSL, Tripathy said.

The products of BSL have shown a price increase in the range of Rs 700 to Rs 2,500 per tonne, depending on the category, owing to the improved market conditions and this improvement in prices was expected to cut down the losses of the plant, he revealed.

Steel Authority of India Limited sold 70,700 tonnes of steel scrap generated by seven state-owned iron and steel plants during 2000-2001, the minister said in a reply to another query.

The steel scraps were sold to various buyers during the tenure of SAIL Commercial Director M K Moitra (upto April 24, 2000) and A K Singh (from April 25, 2000 onwards), he said.

UNI

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