(a) whether the Government has drafted any National Steel Policy as reported in The Hindu dated January 1, 2005;
(b) if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether the Government has also set the target of producing 100 million tonnes of steel by 2020; and
(d) if so, the steps being taken by the Government to meet the target?
MINISTER OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS AND MINISTER OF STEEL (SHRI RAM VILAS PASWAN)
(a) Yes, Sir.
(b) The basic objective of the National Steel Policy (NSP) is to prepare a roadmap for the Indian Steel Industry in its journey towards reform, restructuring and globalisation. The long-term goal of the NSP is that India should become self-reliant and globally competitive in the steel sector.
(c) The steel sector was deregulated, delicenced and decontrolled in 1991-92. Therefore the market determines production targets and investment decisions in the steel sector. Nonetheless, in the proposed National Steel Policy it has been estimated that in order to become self reliant and globally competitive in the steel sector, the country would require indigenous production of over 100 million tonnes of steel per annum by 2020 from the 2004 level of 35 million tonnes.
(d) In order to achieve the goal of over 100 million tonnes of steel production by 2019-20 the NSP seeks to remove the supply-side constraints to the growth of this industry in an open, globally integrated and competitive environment. Apart from the broad-based policy statements, the NSP also chalks out specific action points to achieve the policy objectives.