Lok Sabha Question No. 1250 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-02-11
Subject: Steel Projects
Ministry: STEEL
Asked by: SRINIVAS KESINENI

## STEEL PROJECTS

1250.  SHRI KESINENI NANI:

Will the Minister of STEEL be pleased to state:

(a) the total number of steel plants in the country and the number of steel projects that are still underway in the country;

(b) whether the current number of steel plants is enough to meet the needs of the country and if so, the details thereof and the major reasons for steel imports;

(c) whether the Hon'ble Supreme Court's capping on mining/production of Iron in States of Odisha, Goa and Karnataka has led to the fall in production of steel and if so, the details thereof;

(d) the percentage of total steel consumed and manufactured in the country and the percentage imported from outside; and

(e) whether there has been increase in imports of steel over last few years and if so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  its  impacts  on  the  domestic  market  and  the indigenous steel plants?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR STEEL

(SHRI VISHNU DEO SAI)

(a)&(b): Steel is a deregulated sector and the role of Government is limited to that of a facilitator. The decisions regarding setting up of a new steel plant or to start a new project in a steel plant are essentially taken by the respective companies, based on commercial considerations and market dynamics. The two major public sector steel companies in India  are  Steel  Authority  of  India  Limited  (SAIL)  and  Rashtriya  Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL). SAIL has steel plants namely Bhilai Steel Plant (Chhattisgarh), Durgapur Steel Plant (West Bengal), Rourkela Steel Plant (Odisha), Bokaro Steel Plant (Jharkhand), IISCO Steel Plant (West Bengal), and three Special Steel  Plants  namely  Alloy  Steels  Plant  (West  Bengal),  Salem  Steel  Plant  (Tamil Nadu) and Visvesvaraya Iron & Steel Plant (Karnataka) and RINL has a steel plant in Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh).

During April-Dec.'18, gross production of finished steel, domestic consumption and imports of finished steel (Alloy & Non Alloy) are as given in the table below:-

## '000t

|              | Gross Production   | Import   | Consumption   |
|--------------|--------------------|----------|---------------|
| April-Dec'18 | 97598              | 5910     | 71551         |
| April-Dec'17 | 93177              | 6096     | 66301         |
| %Growth      | 4.7%               | -3.1%    | 7.9%          |

[Source: Joint Plant Committee (JPC)]

The above data suggests that the present level of steel production is sufficient to meet domestic demand.

Based on market forces, imports may occur for a variety of reasons, inter-alia, including the non-availability of certain high grades of steel in the country viz. high grade automotive steel, electrical steel, higher grades of API steel, etc.

(c) No, Madam.  Gross production of finished steel has shown growth of 4.7% in April-Dec.'18 compared to April-Dec.'17.

(d)

|                                                  | 2017-18   | 2018-19 (Apr.-Dec.)   |
|--------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------------------|
| Finished Steel Consumption (MT)                  | 90.61     | 71.55                 |
| Finished Steel Production (MT)                   | 104.97    | 97.60                 |
| Finished Steel Import (MT)                       | 7.48      | 5.91                  |
| Finished Steel Import as a %of total consumption | 8.3%      | 8.3%                  |

(Source: JPC)

(e) Finished  steel  imports  in  2017-18  increased  by  3.6%  YoY.  In  2018-19,  the imports in the period Apr.-Dec.'18 have declined by ~3.1% compared to same period last year.

|                            |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |   2018-19 (Apr.-Dec.) |
|----------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------------------|
| Finished Steel Import (MT) |      8.72 |      7.22 |      7.48 |                  5.91 |

(Source: JPC)

Steel  is  a  deregulated  sector  in  India,  so  the  Government  doesn't  intend  to interfere  with  the free and fair trade of the steel products in the country. However, Government of India has taken a number of WTO compliant trade remedial measures to  avoid  injury  to  the  domestic  steel  sector  from  any  kind  of  unfairly  traded  cheap imports coming into India. Unfairly traded imports in India have decreased owing to these measures taken by the Government.

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