July 27: Steel is a deregulated sector and the role of the Government is that of a facilitator for creating a conducive environment for the development of the steel sector in the country.
Policy support by the government to the steel producers
The Government of India notified the National Steel Policy, 2017 which has laid down the broad roadmap for encouraging long-term growth for the Indian steel industry, both on the demand and supply sides by 2030-31. The Policy projects total crude steel production of 255 MT and a total finished steel demand of 230 MT by 2030-31.
Towards Aatmanirbharta in the Steel Scrap sector
Ministry of Steel has also notified the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy on 7th November 2019. The policy provides a framework to facilitate and promote the establishment of metal scrapping centres in India for the scientific processing & recycling of ferrous scrap generated from various sources and a variety of products. The Policy provides standard guidelines for setting up dismantling centres & scrap processing centres, roles of aggregators and responsibilities of the government, manufacturer and owner. As per the Steel Scrap Recycling Policy, the role of the Government is that of a facilitator to create a conducive ecosystem for entrepreneurs and investors to establish scrap centres in the country. The decision to set up scrap centres by the entrepreneurs is based on commercial considerations.
The details of the country’s import of scrapped steel during the last three years are given below:-
| Year | Import (in MT) |
| 2020-21 | 5.571 |
| 2021-22 | 4.845 |
| 2022-23 | 9.915 |
| Source: Joint Plant Committee(JPC); MT=million tonne |
