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Steel industry reforms – particularly in 1991 and 1992 – have led to strong and sustainable growth in India’s steel industry.
Since its independence, India has experienced steady growth in the steel industry, thanks in part to the successive governments that have supported the industry and pushed for its robust development.
Further illustrating this plan is the fact that a number of steel plants were established in India, with technological assistance and investments by foreign countries.
In 1991, a substantial number of economic reforms were introduced by the Indian government. These reforms boosted the development process of a number of industries – the steel industry in India in particular – which has subsequently developed quite rapidly.
The 1991 reforms allowed for no licenses to be required for capacity creation, except for some locations. Also, once India’s steel industry was moved from the listing of the industries that were reserved exclusively for the public sector, huge foreign investments were made in this industry.
Yet another reform for India’s steel industry came in 1992, when every type of control over the pricing and distribution system was removed, making the modern Indian Steel Industry extremely efficient, as well as competitive.
Additionally, a number of other government measures have stimulated the growth of the steel industry, coming in the form of an unrestricted external trade, low import duties, and an easy tax structure.
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India continually posts phenomenal growth records in steel production. In 1992, India produced 14.33 million tones of finished carbon steels and 1.59 million tones of pig iron. Furthermore, the steel production capacity of the country has increased rapidly since 1991 – in 2008, India produced nearly 46.575 million tones of finished steels and 4.393 million tones of pig iron.
Both primary and secondary producers contributed their share to this phenomenal development, while these increases have pushed up the demand for finished steel at a very stable rate.
In 1992, the total consumption of finished steel was 14.84 million tones. In 2008, the total amount of domestic steel consumption was 43.925 million tones. With the increased demand in the national market, a huge part of the international market is also served by this industry. Today, India is in seventh position among all the crude steel producing countries.
The following are the premier steel plants operating in India:
Salem Steel Plant at Tamil Nadu
Bhilai Steel Plant at Chattisgarh
Durgapur Steel Plant at West Bengal
Alloy Steel Plants at West Bengal
Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant in Karnataka
Rourkela Steel Plant at Orissa
Bokaro Steel Plant at Jharkhand
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