Discuss current status of iron and steel industries in India
Answers
After almost a decade of limping growth, the significant recovery of the global economy as well as that of the Global Steel Industry in 2017 also points to a favourable outlook for the Indian steel industry. While global production of crude steel at 1,691 million tonne (MT) noted a growth of 5.3 per cent in 2017 over the previous year, the estimated steel consumption rose to 1,622 MT. The latest Internal Monetary Fund projection has estimated the global economy is slated to grow at 3.9 per cent in 2018, and India's GDP is to move up by 7.4 per cent in 2018 as compared to 6.7 per cent in the previous year. The continued growth in GDP in India, in fact, indicates that major steel consuming segments such as construction, real estate/housing, capital goods/machinery, consumer goods, automobiles and energy sector shall benefit.
The housing and construction sector, where major chunk of steel is consumed, shall get a boost with increase in per capita incomes and social sector schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna-Housing for All, Sardar Patel Urban Housing Mission, 100 Smart Cities Mission (by 2022), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojna, Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns (UIDSSMT), National Heritage City Development and Augmentation Yojana (HRIDAY), Bharatmala project, 24x7 Power for All initiative (by 2019), Development of Industrial Corridors & National Investment & Manufacturing Zones, 75,000 MW Clean-Energy initiative (by 2022) and many others.
In a nutshell, with the increasing thrust on the "Make-in-India" vision by the Indian Government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian steel industry itself will grow and will be in a position to supply the required quantities and grades of steel much needed by the end-users. This also given the fact that the per capita finished steel consumption remains at a dismal 60 kgs, in contrast with the world average of around 220 kgs. The recently formed Global Forum on Excess Steel Capacity has acknowledged India's capacity expansion of steel as a function of growing consumption in the domestic market.