Press reports suggest that the union government is discussing a new steel policy and it would be introduced soon in order to promote overall growth of the sector.
According to reports, the new policy would address several issues including foreign direct investments (FDI), land acquisitions and environment clearances.
The new policy would make sure that such problems did not crop up or were addressed quickly, the steel ministry official said.
It may be noted that land acquisition and environment clearance are delayed the 12 million tonne per annum (mn tpa) steel project of POSCO in Odisha.
Another key issue faced by the sector is availability of raw material, namely iron ore. The policy is also expected to address the problem.
The sector is in the midst of a slowdown due to severe raw material crunch and a halt in commissioning of new projects. The policy is expected to have solutions to problems plaguing the sector — the recent ban on iron ore mining in Karnataka, Odisha and Goa, land acquisition problems and delays in getting environment clearances. The ban on iron ore mining has forced steel companies to import raw material, increasing costs.
It may be noted that India is the fourth largest steel producer in the world and it plans to increase production capacity to 200 million tonne by 2020 from 90 million tonne now.
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