Indian government prepares a policy for the development of steel clusters

The Indian government has prepared a draft policy framework for the development of steel clusters in the country, Manufacturing Today reported.

Work on the policy began sometime in late 2019, but faced obstacles due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Steel clusters to create jobs and increase output of value-added products

The idea of ​​creating such clusters is twofold.

First, the government wants to increase production of value-added steel. He also wants to create jobs.

Due to the pandemic, job losses in India are estimated at millions.

Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan announced the draft policy framework in the Indian Parliament. The minister said that the policy will focus on creating new steel clusters, along with the development and expansion of existing steel clusters.

'Independent'

The Press Trust of India quoted the minister as saying that when the clusters are ultimately deployed, they will make India "self-sufficient" in value-added steel and capital goods.

In addition, the clusters will create jobs, especially in the eastern part of the country, including the states of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

In January 2020, the Ministry of Steel launched the so-called Purvodaya Initiative. The aim of the initiative is to accelerate the development of eastern India through integrated steel centers. By comparison, through nodes India could increase its steelmaking capacity by more than 75%.

This means that this region can provide 200 million tons of capacity. Therefore, this total volume will go a long way towards achieving the overall target of 300 million tonnes by 2030-2031.

The steel cluster idea is modeled after similar centers in Korea, China and Germany, according to Hindu Business Line.

Each of these nodes will be located close to steel mills and steel demand centers. Hubs will then expand capacity by creating a single ecosystem. Such an ecosystem includes efficient forward and backward linkages, a Single Window facility for rapid approval of permits, and a best-in-class logistics infrastructure.

According to the report, the clusters around the metallurgical plants will be “auxiliary” and subsequent clusters.