india

Updated: Mar 17, 2020 12:38 IST

Union steel and oil minister Dharmendra Pradhan said the government aims to make eastern India a steel hub, which is part of Prime Minister’s ‘Mission Purvodaya’.

Pradhan said “the country aspires to achieve quantum jump to achieve transformational outcome.”

Quoting Prime Minister Narendra Modi that India is not ready to accept incremental growth, he said “we all must step up to meet this aspiration”. The steel industry has an important role to play in making India a $5 trillion economy, he added.

He emphasised the need to ensure that Indian steel industry becomes more cost effective, work on new business models, and carry out research and development efforts.

“We must work on the paradigm of zero exports of India’s natural resources. Government is willing to take all steps to facilitate value addition”, he said speaking at a conference on “Towards a Vibrant, Efficient and Globally Competitive Indian Steel Sector”. Minister of state for steel Faggan Singh Kulaste was also present in the event.

Pradhan said with a large domestic market and a growing economy, India’s steel usage is set to grow. He also launched the new logo of steel ministry with tag-line ‘Ispati Irada’. “We must all work with an ‘Ispati Irada’ to increase appropriate usage of steel in the country and bring more strength to society.”

Kulaste said steel is crucial to the development of any modern economy and is considered to be backbone of industrial development. Steel industry should focus on capacity expansion and make efforts to increase the production according to the demand, he said.

Steel secretary Binoy Kumar said the government is dedicated towards the development of iron and steel industry, which contributes to the economic development of the nation.

Special emphasis is being put on raw material security and logistics and financial enablement for the industry, he said.