THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF STEEL (SHRI BRAJA KISHORE TRIPATHY)
(a) to (i): A statement is placed on the Table of the Lok Sabha.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO
(i) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.211 TO BE ANSWERED ON 04/08/2003 TABLED BY SHRI KIRIT SOMAIYA REGARDING PROFIT OF STEEL INDUSTRY
(a)&(b): Yes, Sir. The Net profit of the public sector companies producing steel i.e. SAIL and RINL has gone up during the last six months. The financial result of these companies for the last two quarters is given below:
Net Profit: (Rs. in crore)
Quarter SAIL RINL
Jan.`03 - Mar.`03 242 314 Apr.`03 - Jun.`03# 255 160
Total 497 474
# provisional
(c) Although the performance of private sector steel industries is not monitored by the Ministry of Steel, however, all reports indicate that the private sector industries have also performed quite well during this period, both in quantitative and financial terms.
(d) The orders are directly received and processed by the respective companies/exporters and are not monitored by the Government. Indian Companies are exporting items such as special steel, hot and cold rolled coils, galvanized coils and pre-painted coils. The details of India`s total exports of iron and steel to China from the year 1999 to date is as follows:
(Amount in Millions of US$)
Jan-Dec.,1999 Jan-Dec.,2000 Jan-Dec.,2001 Jan-Dec.,2002 Jan-June,2003
5 20 64 262 621
(Source: Embassy of India, Beijing)
(e) Yes, Sir.
(f) to (i): The Minister of State for Steel led a delegation to China from May 18-23, 2002. The purpose of the visit was to explore opportunities of cooperation in the Iron and Steel sector. At times, the public sector undertakings under the Ministry of Steel send delegations to China to promote exports, source raw materials and explore areas of co-operation. Apart from these Ministry and PSU initiatives, the Embassy of India, Beijing has also identified products under the Harmonised System Code 72 (Iron and Steel) which are in demand in the Chinese market and the necessary information has been forwarded to the concerned Indian Chambers of Commerce/Export Councils and industry players active in the field of Iron and Steel. The Indian Steel Alliance, working under the aegis of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), has already initiated talks with the Chinese government and steel companies in China to increase trade between the two countries.
The Ministry is thus actively involved in various promotional efforts in consultation with the industry and their Associations. The Government is fully discharging its role as a facilitator in a liberalised environment and helping the industry to adequately exploit the market potential.
