STEPS TO PRODUCE QUALITY STEEL

---

LOK SABHA

The Government has taken several steps to enable steel industry to produce steel of international standard. It has removed Iron and Steel Industry from the list of industries reserved for the public sector and exempted it from the provisions of compulsory licensing under the Industries (Development & Regulation) Act, 1951. The prices and distribution of Iron & Steel Industry has been de-regulated. The Iron and Steel Industry has been included in the list of high priority industries for automatic approval for foreign equity investment up to 100 per cent.

The Global Environment Facility (GEF) project has been undertaken with UNDP,s aid with a view to improve the efficiency of operation of secondary sector, particularly re-rolling sector and help it to become technically advanced. Several modernisation, up-gradation and renovation programmes have been taken up for the steel industry in addition to the extensive in-house restructuring works undertaken by steel plants like SAIL, VSP and TISCO. The industry has at present access to best quality of raw material/inputs from anywhere in the world and access to world-class technology and capital goods. The Government facilitates setting up new steel plants based on the latest state-of-the-art technologies.

This information was given by the Minister for Steel Shri Braja Kishore Tripaty in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.