Union Minister of Steel and Civil Aviation Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia said that at present India is the fourth largest producer of Zinc in the world and 80% of Zinc produced in India is consumed domestically. Addressing the fourth Global Zinc Summit -2023 here today, Shri Scindia stated that Indian Railways and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) are working together to produce corrosion free steel. With anti-corrosion features and quality to prevent oxidation in steel products, zinc has tremendous marketing potential for sectors like renewable energy, rural electrification, galvanizing the structure in smart cities etc. Galvanized steel will give long life to infrastructure made in our long coastal line, the Minister added.

Touching upon the crucial strides made by India’s steel sector, Minister Shri Scindia stated that large scale augmentation will be done to double production from present capacity of 150 million tonnes per annum to 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030. India has already emerged as the second largest steel producer in the world and our per capita steel consumption has gone up from 57kg to 78kg during the last nine years, Shri Scindia said.

The Minister said that we have awarded 54 applications submitted from close to 26 companies under the Production Linked incentive (PLI) for specialty steel. The Union Cabinet in July 2021 approved a Rs 6,322-crore PLI scheme to boost the production of speciality steel in India. The PLI will help to extent production capacity of 26 Million Ton per annum and investment of Rs 30,000 crore with the employment generation for 55,000 people. The Minister added that government has announced a huge capex of Rs 10 lakh crore for infrastructure development which has opened tremendous investment opportunities across the sectors.

Highlighting the Prime Minister’s commitment to net zero carbon emission by 2030, the Steel Minister said, “we have to learn to coexist with the environment, we have to learn to respect the environment, there can no longer be a linear model of take, make and dispose. Recycling has to become a part of our existence”.

Member of Parliament Shri Raju Bista, Shri Arun Misra CEO, HZL, Dr. Andrew Green, ED, IZA and Delegates from Europe, America and Asia were present in the program.

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