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Indigenisation of speciality steel -- Group soon to recommend strategies

Our Bureau

NEW DELHI, Sept. 6

THE Steel Ministry will shortly set up a group to recommend strategies for domestically manufacturing certain grades of speciality steel that are currently not produced in India but are being imported into the country, according to Mr. A. K. Agarwal, Sec retary, Ministry of Steel.

Inaugurating a Workshop on `Steel Intensive Buildings', organised by the Steel Ministry, Mr. Agarwal pointed out that ``automobile manufacturers are still importing a certain quality of steel which is not produced in India''.

While highlighting that the category and the quality of steel requirement differs for various sectors, he stressed the need for a different approach for major projects in `Infrastructure' or `Industrial' sectors which have substantial capacity of steel c onsumption.

Mr. Agarwal also called upon users and producers of seconds and defectives of steel and iron to desist from sale and use of such materials as it may adversely affect the growth rate of steel consumption.

He also underscored the need for continuous upgradation of technology to improve the consumption of domestically produced steel. ``With the emerging technology and consumer requirement, there is a need for continuous improvement in the quality of finishe d products. This has become all the more important in view of liberalisation of imports'', Mr. Agarwal said.

In his address, Mr. Arvind Pande, Chairman, Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), said that the steel intensity in India was quite low reflecting in one of the lowest per capita consumption.

``China experienced a growth of 60 million tonnes of steel in a matter of a single decade, whereas in India steel consumption grew by only 6 million tonnes in the same period, an extremely slow growth by an standard. Primary reason for this is the low sh are of steel in construction'', he said.

He said that recent estimates indicated that steel had a share of only 10 per cent in the total investment made in construction. Mr. Pande also said that the existing standards and codes, which do not adequately cover the usage of steel in buildings, wer e a major impediment in promoting steel intensive construction.

``Our building bye-laws still provide concrete encasing of steel columns in buildings, for fire protection, while in western countries columns are adequately coated with protective paint which reduce cost. It is, therefore, important that our standards a nd codes are amended to incorporate changing construction systems'', he said.

In his address, Mr. V.Suresh, Chairman and Managing Director, Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd (HUDCO) stressed the need for different application-oriented marketing campaigns for different segments to give steel its ``pride of place'' among the construction materials.