We need to beat China in steel production: PM

After the US, India aims to surpass China in the production of steel, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said here on Wednesday.

“India has surpassed the US in steel production, but is still far behind China. We need to beat China as we cannot afford to lag behind anyone when it comes to ‘Make in India’,” Modi said, addressing a public rally, after dedicating a new and modernised Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) to the nation.

With an investment of around ₹12,000 crore, production capacity of the upgraded steel plant will go up to 4.5 million tonnes (mt) annually from the present 2 mt.

RSP is one of the five integrated steel plants of public sector steel major Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL). SAIL is currently undertaking an expansion-cum-modernisation plan of all its plants and mines.

With an investment of over ₹72,000 crore, this project is expected to be completed in September this year and will take the annual production capacity to 23 mt from 13 mt at present.

With SAIL and all the public and private sector companies put together, India’s total production capacity has reached around 100 mt, while that of the US is around 90 mt and China’s is over 1,100 mt.

Boosted by Modi’s statement on beating China, shares of SAIL rose by over 4 per cent to close at ₹71.15 at BSE on Wednesday.

With over one lakh people attending the rally, Modi reiterated that Eastern States should take a leap along with the Western regions.

The Eastern States comprise Bihar, Odisha, Jharkhand, and West Bengal along with the North-Eastern States, while Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa are the Western States that have high growth rates.

Talking about key initiatives taken by his government in the past 10 months, the Prime Minister said that decisions on enhancing royalty on minerals, the successful coal block auction, and a higher share in tax revenue for States were some important features.

Implementation of recommendations of the 14th Finance Commission will give ₹25,000 crore to Odisha in the new fiscal, against ₹18,000 crore in 2014-15, he said.

Terming coal as diamond, Modi said that the Centre has successfully managed to get around ₹2 lakh crore by auctioning just 20 blocks out of the 204 cancelled by the Supreme Court. This money will now go to States such as Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, he said.

Linking the steel sector’s huge potential with national security and defence, Modi said India was focusing on manufacturing warships, and RSP and its employees had contributed significantly.

The special steel manufactured here is being used in tanks used by the Army in guarding the nation, he said, describing the city as the town which has given India the strength of steel.

The Prime Minister said the world was looking at India again with optimism. He invited investors from across the world to invest in India. “Return on investment here is higher than any other countries,” he claimed.

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