The Union Steel Minister, Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh chaired a meeting here today to review the capital expenditure (CAPEX) incurred by Steel CPSE during the FY 2021-22 and to assess the plans of the CPSEs for achieving the CAPEX targets for the current year 2022-23. The CMDs of Steel CPSEs viz. SAIL, NMDC, RINL, KIOCL MOIL and MECON and senior officers of the Ministry of Steel attended the meeting.

The Steel Minister emphasized the importance of timely capital expenditure for enhancing steel production capacity, modernizing old plant equipment, and taking up environmentally efficient technologies for the future. Such expenditure also provides a fillip to the Indian economy. It was noted that in FY 2021-22 the CAPEX spending by Steel CPSEs was Rs. 10,038 crores, this is   an increase of 38% over the CAPEX of Rs. 7266.70 crores for FY 2020-21.

The CAPEX target for FY 2022-23 in respect of Steel CPSEs is Rs. 1,3156.46 crores.  The Union Minister of Steel advised the CPSEs to adhere to their monthly CAPEX Plans and closely monitor projects for ensuring time bound implementation and achievement of annual target successfully on time. The CMDs of Steel CPSEs assured that CAPEX targets for FY 2022-23 would be achieved.

During the review, deliberations were also held on the CPSEs’ plans under the National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017, as this envisions creating a globally competitive steel industry in India.  The NSP 2017 envisages 300 million tonnes (MT) steel-making capacity and a per capita consumption of 158 kgs. Notwithstanding, the pandemic the Indian steel sector has added capacity of 16.29 MTPA in the last five years to reach the capacity of 154.27 MTPA.  Based on the present assessment Government is confident to reach the capacity of 300 MTPA  by 2030-31.  Most of the capacity expansion comes through brown field and some greenfield expansion which may come from 2025-30.

The Minister gave directions to Steel CPSEs to plan their capital projects prudently in line with the NSP – 2017.  In order to ensure their capacity goes up by about 80% from present level to reach 45 MTPA by 2030-31 from the present level of around 25 MTPA.  The Minister further stressed that CPSEs should take adequate measure to incorporate the learning’s from the past and current expansion projects in their future plans to ensure adherence to the envisaged capacity expansion.

The Union Minister for Steel Shri Ram Chandra Prasad Singh also directed the CMDs of the Steel CPSEs to develop their exploration expertise, work for capacity enhancement while keeping climate concerns in mind and work towards production of Green Steel, plan and prepare the roadmap for ‘Amrit Kal’, reinvent and develop expertise for future needs and prepare their skilling road maps accordingly and to also diversify their portfolios with a view to remaining competitive in the market.

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AKN/SK