New steel policy draft ready, to set 2047 road map: Secretary

New Delhi: The government will soon issue the new steel policy for stakeholder consultation that will set a 2047 road map for the domestic steel industry, steel secretary Sandeep Poundrik said Tuesday.

Speaking at the CII Manufacturing Confluence, Poundrik said India will have an estimated over 600 mt of steel producing capacity by 2047, while the consumption will be over 500 mt. "This policy which we have formulated we are putting in public domain for consultation. Maybe Monday or so we will put it out," Poundrik said. "The policy is with a vision to take India to 2047 in the steel sector."

The government is revisiting the current national steel policy 2017 to address major changes in the sector in the past decade including AI, machine learning, technology upgradation, decarbonisation and greater policy focus on sustainability.


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He said 45 mt of steel is expected to be exported annually though it may not necessarily be direct steel exports but products as well.

Steel is the backbone of the manufacturing industry and its consumption is rising more than production, Poundrik said adding automotive and white goods are the two sectors that are likely to grow the fastest and will continue to require steel as the primary raw material.

India also wants to produce more specialty steel for automobiles, defence, aerospace and other segments of manufacturing. In specialty steel, there are around 175 ongoing projects, he said.

"Raw material availability will become a major challenge - we will have to work on that," he said. "AI is something now the industry has to use. So, technology and all of these, are the objectives of the [new steel] policy."

The steel ministry is also looking to bring a scheme to help small manufacturing units with technology upgradation and modernisation.

"For technology, we are trying to incentivise development of domestic ones," he said.