Hurdles aside, steel biz on road to recovery

Addressing an International Seminar on Long Products-Technology, Market and Applications here organised by the Steel and Metallurgy Magazine, he said, “The Indian Steel Industry has lot of resilience to withstand such vicissitudes and the sector has young manpower and the latest technologies to compete in the world markets.” 

However, he said, right now the industry was facing many challenges like inadequate infrastructure and logistics, high capital cost, high cost of power and fuel, non-availability of quality coal, increased input costs, and operational efficiency in product development. As India is one of the fastest growing economies, steel consumption will grow in rural and urban sectors. He said the Government’s intervention is highly needed at this point to support the steel industry by reducing the customs duty and curbing the import of cheap steel. He called for the adoption of the best available technologies and stressed on the need to invest a lot more in research and development activities.