Speaking to a leading newspaper, CS Verma, Chairman of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) said the Indian steel sector holds bright prospect going forward.
He hinted that demand for steel may increase in the country as the government has given thrust to investment in key infrastructure sector during the 12th five year plan.
India has one of the lowest per capita steel use numbers in the world at present. Today, the per capita consumption of steel is 55 kg a year. In rural India, where 60 per cent of the population lives, per capita consumption is just 15 kg per annum. So there is lot of demand potential that is yet to be tapped, Verma has reportedly said.
To tap this potential and to achieve the GDP target growth, India must add steel production capacity. Steel is a basic factor in achieving the GDP target, Verma said.
The sentiment is depressed and globally capacity utilisation of steel is only 80 per cent.
But conditions are different from the Indian point of view; as it is a developing economy, which needs more capacity, he said.
Steel production capacity in India is just 80-85 million tonne or 10 per cent of the Chinese capacity of around 800 million tonne.
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