‘Agreements signed with 26 cos’
New Delhi: Agreements have been signed with 26 companies for 54 applications under the production linked incentive (PLI) for specialty steel, Union Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Thursday.
The minister made the remarks at the Global Zinc Summit 2023 in the national capital where he also urged the stakeholders to explore investment opportunities in India.
“We had a PLI for speciality steel and that includes steel products with zinc. I report we have awarded 54 applications submitted from close to 26 companies (which will lead to) an investment of...Rs 30,000 crore, a capacity addition of 26 million tonne and employment generation potential of about 25,000 people,” Scindia said.
India is the fourth largest producer of zinc contributing to six per cent of the world’s capacity alone, he said adding 80 per cent of the non-ferrous metal produced in the country is consumed domestically.
In India, the government has announced a huge capex of Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure which has opened tremendous investment opportunities across the sectors, the minister informed the participants of the summit.
“Zinc is consumed in galvanising, structurals, wires, cables and trains etc but there are new markets which represent tremendous opportunities like renewable energy, rural electrification, galvanising rebars. There are new opportunities,” he said.
The top five steel companies — Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JSPL, AMNS India and SAIL — dominate the list of qualifiers under the PLI scheme for specialty steel. Besides, there are a few others like Gallant Metalliks, Kalyani Steels, Shyam Metalics Flat Products and Sunflag Iron and Steel who have been selected under the PLI scheme.
The Union Cabinet in July 2021 approved a Rs 6,322-crore PLI scheme to boost the production of speciality steel in India.
Some of the categories of specialty steel included in the scheme are coated/plated steel products, high strength/wear-resistant steel, specialty rails, alloy steel products, and steel wires, and electrical steel.
Moreover, The Steel Minissaid the inbound shipment of steel is “very minimal”, amid industry flagging the issue of “cheap imports”.
“If you look at the numbers, the rise is very very minimal. Our market is growing tremendously and our domestic producers are supplying well,” the minister said in reply to a question on increasing imports.
According to industry data, imports of finished steel rose by 21 per cent to 4.77 million tonnes (MT) in 2022 from 3.94 MT in 2021.
Alok Sahay, secretary general of Indian Steel Association (ISA), said the industry is undergoing the pressure of supply chain issues coupled with increasing raw material prices.
ISA is the apex industry body of steel sector.
The prices of key raw material coking coal have registered a sharp increase of 55 per cent from $248 per tonne on December 1, 2022 to $345 a tonne on February 15, he said.
“Steel is exported to India by FTA (free trade agreement) countries at lower than their domestic prices, which is nothing but dumping. We have been repeatedly raising the issue of cheap imports with the ministry,” Sahay said.
