India has become the second-largest producer of steel in the world. Now India surpassed Japan, which is called the steel capital of the world. Along with this success, the steel industry is also saving valuable foreign exchange for the country. Steel Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Wednesday said the government’s policies for the steel sector have saved the country foreign exchange worth Rs 34,800 crore by reducing imports and adding about six crore tonnes of crude steel capacity. He added, the steel industry has achieved remarkable growth in the last nine years and has now become the second-largest producer of crude steel
China is ahead of India in terms of production
On the ‘Government’s Seva, Sushasan, and Garib Kalyan’ program focusing on the steel sector, Scindia said that the steel industry of India has overtaken Japan and achieved the second position in steel production. Indian steel capacity has increased by 46 percent from 109.8 million tonnes in the year 2014-15 to 160.3 million tonnes in the financial year 2022-23. Total steel production has also increased from 88.9 million tonnes to 126.2 million tonnes. The per capita consumption of steel has also increased by 43 percent from 60.8 kg to 86.7 kg during this period.
The target is to double per capita consumption
As per the National Steel Policy 2017, the country aims to increase its capacity to 300 million tonnes and production to 250 million tonnes by 2030-31. While the target per capita consumption is 160 kg. Scindia told reporters that the country has so far been able to reduce imports by about Rs 34,800 crore due to the policy brought in to increase domestic production of iron and steel products. This has also saved the country’s foreign exchange.
