The government has gone ahead and announced a comprehensive National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017 outlining its vision for steel industry in general and facilitating the steel companies in particular. While the government has been supporting the steel industry over the last one year through import quotas and minimum import price (MIP) to protect them from Chinese steel dumping, there is obviously more to be done on steel. Firstly, Indian steel consumption per capita is not only lower than developed countries but also much lower than other emerging markets. Secondly, steel has strong externalities and has a multiplier impact on overall GDP growth. In fact, historically steel manufacture has been the best indicator of industrialization of an economy. Lastly, it was time to holistically look at the steel industry, being one of the core industries, from a long term sustainability point of view.
The broad contours of the National Steel Policy have been announced and some of the key highlights are as under:
But a few key questions still remain…
While the broad contours of the National Steel Policy (NSP) are surely commendable, there are some key areas that need to be addressed on an urgent basis…
The NSP is definitely a step in the right direction. It is high time that the world’s 3rd largest steel manufacturer with the potential to drive steel consumption has a comprehensive game plan in place for the steel industry. At least, a beginning has surely been made!
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