Specialty steel cos told to seek PLI

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday said it has started inviting applications from investors looking to invest under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for speciality steel.

March 29, 2022, has been fixed as the last date to submit the applications, the Ministry of Steel said in a tweet. On July 22, the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had approved a Rs 6,322-crore PLI scheme to boost production of speciality steel in India, attracting an additional investment of about Rs 40,000 crore and generating fresh 5.25 lakh job opportunities.

The scheme was notified by the government on October 22, and uploaded on the website of the Ministry of Steel. "@SteelMinIndia calls for Online Registration and Application Submission under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for specialty steel at https://t.co/7RTrFAoj11 Start Date: 29-Dec-2021. End Date: 29-Mar-2022," the ministry said.

The five categories of speciality steel that have been included in the PLI scheme are coated/plated steel products, high strength/wear-resistant steel, speciality rails, alloy steel products, steel wires and electrical steel. Industries like automobile, electrical, defence and pipes are consumers of these grades of steel, and India is importing the same. Earlier, speaking with PTI, Minister of State for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste said he was confident of a huge number of domestic and internal players coming forward to avail the benefits of the scheme and invest in India to produce speciality steel. He also said increasing per-capita steel consumption and the production of special steel as well as enhancing raw material security would remain the key focus areas of the government in 2022.