Union Steel Secretary G. Mohan Kumar on Wednesday said India was poised to become third largest steel producer in the world very soon. At present, India ranks fourth after China, Japan, and the U.S.
He said efforts were being made to achieve second position in the next 10 to 15 years, and underlined the need to raise per capita consumption.
Stating that, at present, despite having a capacity to produce 100 million tonne per annum, the production was pegged at 80 million tonne due to low demand, he said, unless the consumption increased, the country had to bank more on imports compounding the balance of payment problem.
Mr. Mohan Kumar, who was on a two-day visit to Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, was speaking at a dissemination seminar on Sinter Heat Recovery Power Plant.
The plant was inaugurated with Japanese technology with aid from New Energy Industrial Technology Development Organisation (NEDO).
He said RINL had a tough task ahead in meeting quality parameters and increasing efficiency level to compete with other steel majors. He said eco-friendly technologies should be adopted as steel was one of the largest polluting industries. Calling for special focus on sustainability, he said the need of the hour was to raise steel production to 150 to 300 million tonne per annum in phases. RINL Chairman-cum-Managing Director P. Madhusudan said their company was in the forefront in adopting sustainable technologies, which had emerged as the biggest challenge. He said by ensuring recycling of furnace oil and other material, they were able to contain the adverse impact on the environment. Delegates from Japan – Fumio Ueda, Executive Director, NEDO, and Shosaku Umezawa, Representative Director, JP Steel Plantech Co — and RINL Director (Projects) P.C. Mohapatra and Director (Operations) Umesh Chandra spoke.
