There is an urgent need to set up dedicated financing institutions for the steel sector in order to attain the target of 300 mn t steel annually by 2020-25, CS Verma, Chairman and Managing Director of SAIL said.
It may be recalled that India set a target to achieve annual steel production of 300 million tonne (mn t) by 2020-25.
Verma pointed out that the amount of investment required for such projects would be beyond the capacity of banks to finance and hence there is a need for “dedicated financial institutions” for the sector on the lines of Power Finance Corporation.
In the next 12-15 years, India may require an investment of around $220 billion to attain the quantum jump of annual steel production capacity from existing 77 mn t to 300 mn t.
He said this after inaugurating an international conference on emerging technologies and challenges in iron making. Verma said every million tonne capacity addition requires an investment of about a billion dollars.
Verma also underlined the need for creating market for steel products. There is a huge scope for increasing steel consumption in the country because as against the per capita annual consumption of 1,000 kg of steel in developed countries, urban India consumes only 55 kg and rural consumption is as low as 15 kg per year, he said.
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