The Hindu Business Line : BIS to develop India-specific norms for auto steel

THE Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) will develop India-specific standards for steel to be used in automobiles manufactured in the country. This will be applicable to all automobiles, including two-wheelers and tractors.

BIS, however, will try to keep the total number of specifications as low as possible and these would apply to the steel used both outside and inside the automobiles. This was decided at a meeting of the Steel Sectoral Coordination Committee held here on Tuesday, which was chaired by the Steel Secretary.

As of now, out of the total steel used in the auto sector, about 60 per cent is sourced indigenously, while the remaining is imported. Major players in the automobile sector such as Tata Motors, Maruti, Ford and Fiat India use steel with different specifications.

The cold-rolled steel makers supply the material. The major cold-rollers who supply to the automobile manufacturers include Bhusan Steel, Uttam Steel, Thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel (formerly EBG India), Ruchi Steel and Tube Investments . But even for a very minor difference in specifications, the entire production process needs to be reset and the chemical composition of the hot-rolled steel used for cold-rolling changes. This leads to escalation of costs.

Following detailed discussions in the meeting — which was also attended by representatives of the automobile industry, major steel manufacturers, and steel consuming Ministries such as the Defence and the Railways — BIS has said that it will be initiating action for development of India-specific standards, sources said.

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