Visakhapatnam: Experts stress on cost-effective sustainable ways for growth

Visakhapatnam: Indian Steel Industry has a competitive advantage in the global market, said advisor, YSR Steel Corporation Limited P Madhusudhan.

Addressing the second edition of conference on sustainability in steel sector 2021 that focused on the theme 'Sustainable Business Strategies-Impact of Raw Materials and Logistics' hosted by Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Andhra Pradesh in virtual mode, he said India is the world's second-largest steel producer with 140 million tonnes of capacity driven by rising demand from customers.

Further, he stated that the National Steel Policy is a roadmap to steer the industry towards deriving its full potential and enhance steel production with a specific focus on high-end value-added steel.

With a large number of MSMEs, young workforce, less labour cost, Madhusudhan mentioned that India has got the potential to increase the capacity of steel by the next 10 years and become globally competitive.

Further, Madhusudhan said that the adoption of new technologies and recycling the steel with energy efficiency measures would reduce the dependency on fossil fuels.

In his address, CMD of RINL Atul Bhatt said despite the pandemic, the global steel demand grew by around 4.5 percent and would continue to grow in the next few years. "India is all set to take a dominant role in the global steel industry and the steel industry in India and is showing encouraging signs of growth in the Indian economy," he observed.

Expressing optimism over demand growth driven by the energy transition, chairman of CII National Steel Committee MVS Seshagiri Rao said industries should work towards improving efficiencies, adopting new technologies. India has a huge advantage in terms of not only meeting domestic demand which is fast growing but also exploring opportunities available for the country to export, he stated. "Another advantage is that India's steel price is relatively lower compared to the global prices and it would be viable to buy steel, convert into value added products and export," he added.

Chairman, CII Visakhapatnam Zone and Director (Commercial), RINL DK Mohanty stressed on the need for the industry to decrease dependency on fossil fuels, focus on green energy and invest in technologies to address the climate change impacts.

Chairman of CII Andhra Pradesh D Tirupathi Raju and immediate past chairman J Srinivasa Raju also spoke.