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Ambarish Mukherjee

New Delhi, Dec. 26 Research and development in the steel sector has reached a low point. According to officials in the Ministry of Steel, there are hardly any proposals from any research agencies, steel manufacturers or the engineering colleges for taking up steel-related research projects.

The Executive Secretary of the Joint Plant Committee of the Ministry (JPC), Mr J.K. Basak, told Business Line that “funds are available with us for research and developmental projects. But we are just not getting adequate proposals. None of the colleges, companies are coming up with proper proposals.”

“Every year we have Rs 50 crore from the Steel Development Fund (SDF) for such activities. We have advertised in newspapers, in the industry magazines inviting proposals but we are not getting proposals,” he said.

According to steel consultant and former Chief Economist of the JPC, Mr A.S. Feroz, one of the reasons is that the steel manufacturers are outsourcing a chunk of their R&D requirements from the equipment suppliers, which are mainly foreign multinationals and enjoy the benefits of their research.

However, many special grade steels are still not manufactured domestically for which the companies will either need to buy technology or develop them internally, he said.

The domestic steel manufacturers also have been found to be spending extremely small amounts for R&D activities.

According to data on R&D spending provided by the three big steel makers Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) and Tata Steel to the Ministry of Steel, investment in this area is minuscule compared to their profits.

The activities undertaken till now by these companies are mostly around productivity improvements, energy conservation, beneficiation of raw materials and new product developments.

In the current year also the same trend continues. During April-September 2008, SAIL has invested Rs 69.11 crore under R&D. The corresponding figures for RINL and Tata Steel stand at Rs 14.20 crore and Rs 35 crore respectively, officials pointed out.

More Stories on : Steel | Research & Development

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