The Union Mnister of Steel, Choudhary Birender Singh, on Friday said that the Karnataka government has offered an 160-acre captive mine in Bellary for reviving and modernising Visveswaraya Iron & Steel Ltd (VISL) and to increase its capacity to 1 million tonnes from the current 0.4 million tonnes.
The integrated plant is expected to cost ₹6,000 crore. The Ministry has deputed a team of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and MECON to assist VISL’s revival.
Birender Singh said KIOCL, which is a pellet manufacturer, has now been given permission to produce DI (ductile iron) Pipes.
He said a delegation from the Telugu Desam Party met him for a plant in Kadapa and a similar request from Telangana has also been made. In the interest of both the States, a task force has been set up to work out a mechanism to set up a plant in one of the States after examining the logistics and the availability of ore.
The Steel Ministry is in talks with the Tamil Nadu government to reduce the electricity and production cost at Salem Steel for its revival. The plant has been incurring ₹200-crore loss annually for the last 10 years.
The Ministry of Steel, he said, has launched a mobile app — M3 (MSTC Metal Mandi) at the National Steel Consumers’ Council. The app is expected to bring the buyer closer to the seller, removing the many constraints for small buyers.
Singh said forums like the Steel Consumer Council have an important role to play, as both producers and users come together to find innovative and out-of-the-box ideas to carry the industry forward. Talking about policy interventions, he said the government has brought in amendments to the General Financial Rules to consider the life-cycle cost of a project in government procurements.
He pointed out that considering the advantages of steel-based structures like lower life-cycle cost and high design flexibility with better aesthetics, steel remains a major material component in infrastructure development. The Government’s initiatives planned in various sectors are expected to improve the GDP, which will ultimately provide the additional push required to increase domestic steel demand in the short to medium term. The steel industry and users must work together to promote the usage of steel in areas like crash barriers in hilly areas for Railways, and development of special grades for energy.
The issues of demand, supply, product innovations and logistics will require serious deliberations. Logistics is a critical area and the Consumer Council must draw up a roadmap of logistics for seeking priority attention of policy makers.