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More measures to bring down steel prices: Paswan

Kozhikode: Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilizers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan on Saturday said the Centre would take more measures to bring down steel prices. He, however, refused to go into the details.

He was laying the foundation stone for a rolling mill at Steel Complex Limited (SCL) here at a function to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the SCL and Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) signalling the start of a joint venture. He said that steel was one of the key ingredients for building up infrastructure and a vital parameter of the country’s economic growth. “The recent spurt in prices of steel products has been a matter of great concern and we in the government have been intensely engaged in attempts to address the issue. We have recently announced a package of fiscal measures to contain the steel prices,” he said.

Later, P.H. Kurian, Secretary (Industries, Investment Promotion), Kerala, and G.Ojha, Director (Personnel), SAIL, inked the MoU heralding a new lease of life to the ailing State PSU.

The Minister said that apart from facilitating private investment, the public sector steel producers SAIL and the RINL were engaged in an ambitious fast track modernisation and capacity expansion programme to double production capacities by 2010. “We have estimated that by 2012, steel production in the country will touch 124 million tonnes annually as against 60 million tonnes now, which is considerably in excess of earlier estimates. By 2015, it will be 250 million tonnes and by 2020 it will be 300 million tonnes,” he said.

He expressed hope that the joint venture would be a win-win proposition for both the parties. The venture would be a fully economically viable entity bringing further impetus to the economy of the region. The ultimate yardstick of success would be the economic viability and profitability of this venture, the Minister reminded.

Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan, who inaugurated the function, said that 27 PSUs in the State were profitable now though only 12 were profitable two years ago.

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