Review of National Steel Policy begins

economictimes.indiatimes.com:

National Steel Policy (NSP) in the wake of some advanced economies such as the EU imposing carbon tariff (Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism) on steel imports and the growing need to decarbonise the sector, officials said.

The idea is to assess the impact of the policy on production and usage of the commodity and examine if any tweaks are required in view of the new emerging challenges, they said.

«We are reviewing the NSP 2017 and working on stainless steel and green steel policy,» one of the officials said.

The steel ministry has initiated consultations with the industry and other stakeholders as part of the review.

The NSP had set a target of 300 million tonnes (mt) of crude steel production by 2030. India's crude steel production stood at 143 mt in FY24, a rise of 12.6% from 127 mt in FY23. It has increased by around 42% since the launch of the NSP in 2017 when the country produced 101 mt of crude steel.

The NSP aims to increase per capita steel consumption to 160 kg by 2030-31, and ramp up domestic steel production to meet the demand for high-grade automotive steel, electrical steel, special sheets and alloys.

Domestic producers have also raised concerns about cheap Chinese steel imports .

The review could also undertake an assessment of the recent Supreme Court ruling on mining. The top court had last week ruled that its recent judgement upholding the power of states to tax mining activities will apply retrospectively from April 1, 2005.