India should boost per capita steel consumption: FM

Panaji, May 25 (UNI) India needs to boost its per capita steel consumption by at least ten times to compete with the global trends as it is one of the indicators of the economic growth of the nation, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said today.

Interacting with mediapersons after addressing members of the Goa Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI) here, Mr Chidambaram said the mining industry should meet the needs of the indigenous steel industry, with SAIL, Tata Steel and Jindal planning to enhance capacity by 50 million tonnes.

At the same time, he said, more greenfield steel plants like Mittals, Posco and Essar were underway. Opening of more pilletisation and sintering plants were also under pipeline to raise the per capita steel consumption like China.

In this connection, the Minister said he had justified levying of Rs 300 per tonne export duty on iron ore with 62 per cent or more Ferous content in the lumps without resorting to ban on exports, as the Centre was keen to do way with low grade iron ore but it intends to retain the high grade ore for indigenous consumption.

''As much as 15 per cent of the lumps produced in the country every year could be used by the indigenous industry for 15 years hence there is rise in demand,'' he said.

The Centre has resorted to this levy with the ''prices of low grade iron ore touching the roof,'' with demand from China and other countries on rise, Mr Chidambaram said.

The subsequent reduction of export duty by Rs 50 per tonne has widely been welcomed after due negotiations with the industry. The mining and the steel industry have great future in India as growth in steel consumption was indicative of the growth in the economy, he added.

UNI