The NMDC Ltd. is bullish on the growth prospects of Indian steel industry and geared up to meet the growing iron ore requirements in the country,Chairman-cum-Managing Director Baijendra Kumar said here on Friday.
Mr. Kumar, addressing the 59th annual general meeting, said this citing the National Steel Policy 2017 that aims to achieve a steel production capacity of 300 million tonnes (MT) by 2030-31. This comes in the back of the envisaged growth in domestic steel demand in all key sectors such as infrastructure, housing and automobile.
Iron ore demand and prices, however, are likely to come under pressure with expectation of Chinese steel production stagnating and ramping up of production by large scale mines.
“Fortunately for us, India’s steel industry is poised for an impressive growth in the years to come, which would certainly translate into higher consumption of iron ore domestically,” he said.
The NMDC achieved a record iron ore production of 34 MT and sales of 35.6 MT during 2016-17, an increase of 19% and 24% respectively year-on-year.
The company plans to increase its production capacity to 67 MT by 2021-22, largely through brownfield expansion of mines and improving evacuation. It is also setting up a 3 MT greenfield integrated steel plant at Nagarnar in Bastar, Chhattisgarh.
Over ₹12,500 crore had been spent on the facility. More than 90% of major civil works had been completed and the plant is getting ready for starting operations, Mr. Kumar said.
