Steel, despite being a deregulated sector in the country, is en route to hitting government projections for the fiscal 2030-2031. The Ministry of Steel recently published a detailed list of steel units (which also include MSME units) established in the last five years, yielding some surprising results.
The union minister of state for steel and heavy industries, Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma, in a written reply on Friday at the Parliament stated that the total crude steel capacity for the fiscal 2023-2024 hit 179.51 million tonnes (MT). In comparison, the official projections under the 2017 National Steel Policy (NSP) for fiscal 2030-2031 are set at 300MT.
With more than half of crude steel capacity achieved in the previously concluded fiscal period, it looks like India’s steel units are in line to hit the targets. This is evident from the 305 steel units, including MSME units, established in the last five years, according to data from the Joint Plant Committee in a statement by the Ministry of Steel.
According to the data, Gujarat established 68 steel units in the past five years. In the same period, Chhattisgarh and Punjab were second and third in the number of steel units, with 33 for the former and 32 for the latter.
Only three other states, Tamil Nadu (23), Maharashtra (22), and West Bengal (21) saw more than twenty steel units being set up. While there were many states without any new units in the past five years, Meghalaya, Tripura, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (DNDD), Karnataka, and Kerala saw just one steel unit each being established during the time.
Clubbing all the south states, Andhra Pradesh (8), Karnataka (1), Kerala (1), Tamil Nadu (23), and Telangana (7) accounted for just around 13 per cent of the total steel units (40 out of 305) established in the past five years.
In contrast, Gujarat alone accounts for about 22 per cent of total steel units established. This points to a trend in heavy metal handling and manufacturing, with considerable disparity among different regions in the country. “The decision regarding setting up of a steel plant is taken by industry based on techno-commercial consideration including raw material availability, distance from port, logistics, etc.,” according to the steel ministry.
