Steel industry must aim for ‘Plus One Per Cent Growth Rate’ says minister

Minister suggests formation of ‘Big-data Analytics & Application Centre for Steel’ by primary and secondary steel producers

Union Minister for Steel Chaudhary Birender Singh called upon the steel industry to “better your best” in the financial year 2017-18.

Addressing a gathering of honchos from the steel industry at ‘India Steel 2017’ conference organised by Ficci, the minister said, “I want the steel industry to showcase a growth as of the last financial year in 2017-18; in fact, it should be one per cent higher. I am asking you to better your best. Let our mission for 2017-18 be ‘Plus One Per Cent Growth Rate’”.

The minister said, “We increased exports by 102 per cent, let us increase exports by 103 per cent this year. We increased steel production by 9 per cent, let us take it to 10 per cent. We reduced imports by 36 per cent, let us try and reduce imports by 37 per cent. Steel consumption increased by 3 per cent, let us ensure that it reaches 4 per cent this year.”

Singh said the primary and secondary steel producers must come together to establish a ‘Big-data Analytics & Application Centre for Steel’ with the objective of pooling resources and information available with all steel companies and analysing the collated data. “This will help to promote usage of steel by statistically demonstrating the advantages of steel over other materials and also to explore new areas where steel can be used”, he said.

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He added, “The findings and research then should be placed in the public domain so that there is no one-upmanship and issue of data ownership. This will also help media, opinion leaders, architects and engineers access authentic and credible database. I am sure industry will consider it seriously.”