KOLKATA: The prime ministerial candidate of BJP Narendra Modi’s remarks that steel must be produced in the country and not imported has given a ray of hope to the companies in the sector, battered by poor domestic demand and mining crisis in the states of Karnataka, Odisha and Goa.“Have we seen a nation that exports wheat but gets chappati from outside. We export iron ore but steel is imported," Narendra Modi said. Leading steel firms said this was the kind of policy ‘sensitivity’ they have been yearning for.“What Modi has said is absolutely true. Local entrepreneurs are willing to invest Rs 30,000 - 40,000 crore on new steel projects. Yet they are not given any mines,” RK Goyal, managing director, Kalyani Steel said. “Our group for instance, has signed MoUs for two projects, each of 3 million tonne capacity. But we are yet to get mines, land or water. On the other hand, a foreign steel company like, Posco, has been getting a favourable treatment. Have we committed a crime by being born in India?”Few new steel facilities have come up in the last few years despite the fact that India is a net importer of steel. “I think Modi wants to give a boost to manufacturing and infrastructure and create an export market for value-added steels from India. We have the requisite technology and skills sets,” said Vinod Nowal, deputy MD of JSW Steel and president of Karnataka Iron & Steel Manufacturers Association. “However, we need to change the system and give preference to mining to producers of value-added steels.”Modi has always understood the need to focus on manufacturing and he has clearly backed this up on the ground, Suketu Shah, MD of Mukand Steel, told ET. “He appreciates the need to value add and not follow the colonial model of exporting raw material and import of finished products --- steel, clearly, being a case in point.”The steel industry has suffered due to absence of investment in infrastructure and also due to other factors such as the free trade agreements. “With a strong contender for the PM’s post like Modi making such a comment, it has sent positive signals across the industry,” a senior official of a leading private steel company said.