Lok Sabha Question No. 3294 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-03-23
Subject: Steel Clusters
Ministry: STEEL
Asked by: P. C. Mohan, Lavu Sri Krishna Devarayalu

THE MINISTER OF STEEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF STEEL

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3294 FOR ANSWER ON 23/03/2022

## STEEL CLUSTERS

3294.  SHRI P.C. MOHAN:

SHRI LAVU SRI KRISHNA DEVARAYALU:

Will the Minister of STEEL be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government has drafted a framework policy for Steel Clusters in an effort  to  resolve  challenges  of  the  ancillary,  downstream  and  value-added  steel units and unlock their growth potential; if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Government has allocated any funds for such policy and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) the  manner  in  which  the  Government  is  considering  to  resolve  the  issue  of scarcity of steel grade coal in India; and
- (d) if so, the details thereof;
- (e) the details of amount of money spent by Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) for procurement of steel grade coal from foreign contractors since the year 2014 to 2022, year-wise;
- (f) whether  the  State  of  Andhra  Pradesh  has  been  sanctioned  any  new  Steel Cluster and if so, the details thereof; and
- (g) whether the State of Andhra Pradesh comes under ancillary and downstream cluster or value added cluster and if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

(SHRI RAM CHANDRA PRASAD SINGH)

(a)&(b): Yes, Sir.  A framework policy for Steel Clusters has been drafted. A token amount  of  Rs.1  Lakh  has  been  allocated  in  FY  2020-21  and  2021-22  for  this purpose.

(c)&(d): The entire demand of coking coal is not met from domestic production as the supply  of  high-quality  coal/  coking  coal  (low-ash-coal)  in  the  country  is  limited. Accordingly, the Indian steel Industry has been largely dependent on imported coking coal.  Most  of  the  coking  coal  produced  domestically  in  the  country  has  high  ash content  making  it  redundant  in      manufacture  of  steel  which  resulted  in  import  of 51.83 MT in 2019-20 and 51.20 MT in 2020-21 of coking coal. Following steps have been taken towards enhancing availability of steel grade coal in the country:-

- (1) Coking  coal  mission  has  been  launched  to  increase  in  the  coking  coal production from present 45 MT to 140 MT by 2029-30.
- (2) A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed on 14.10.2021 by the Minister of Steel, Government of India and the Minister of Energy, Russian Federation  on  cooperation  regarding  coking  coal,  which  is  used  in  steel making.  The  MoU  will  benefit  the  Indian  steel  sector  by  diversifying  the sources of coking coal which may lead to reduction in input cost for the steel players due to long term commitment of supply of high-quality coking coal to India.

(e) The  amount  of  money  spent  by  Steel  Authority  of  India  Limited  (SAIL)  for procurement  of  steel  grade  coal  (including  PCI)  from  foreign  contractors  since  the year 2014 to 2022, year-wise are given below:-

| Financial Year          |   2014-15 |   2015-16 |   2016-17 |   2017-18 |   2018-19 |   2019-20 |   2020-21 |   2021-22 (till Feb.'22) |
|-------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|--------------------------|
| Expenditure (Rs. Crore) |     12745 |     10448 |     13871 |     20543 |     23704 |     21551 |     16059 |                    27476 |

(f)&(g):  No,  Sir.    No  new  Steel  Cluster  has been  approved for the State of Andhra Pradesh.

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