Saturday, May 09, 2015

Steel imports up 28% at .29 bn in FY15: Govt
[Editor: It is irony that the Narendra Modi government is promoting the overseas steel companies instead of supporting the domestic ones. The Modi government probably thinks that putting import curbs might fuel inflation; but I strongly feel that this is an unethical method to quell the inflation tiger. Also, we are yet to know whether, the government has any clandestine understanding (deal) with the steel importers or not]  
Photo: International Business Times
May 08, 2015: India's steel imports rose 28 percent to USD 16.29 billion (about Rs 1.04 lakh crore) last fiscal as the country became a net importer of the metal, Parliament was informed on Friday. 

India, the world's fourth-largest steel producer, had imported steel worth USD 12.71 billion in 2013-14, data presented by the Minister of State (Independent Charge) Commerce and Industry Nirmala Sitharaman in the Lok Sabha showed. India's out-bound shipment of the metal, however, grew marginally to USD 16.24 billion in 2014-15, from USD 16.03 billion in the year-ago period, the data showed. 

The data for 2014-15 are on a provisional basis. "India has been a net importer of steel since 2007-08 until 2013-14 when the country became a net exporter for that year only. In 2014-15 again, India was a net importer of steel," Sitharaman informed the House. 

In 2014-15, the Minister said capacity utilisation of the Indian steel industry improved to 85 percent provisionally from 80.9 percent in 2013-14. Production of crude steel was 7.9 percent higher at 88.12 million tonnes (MT) in 2014-15.

"In the present deregulated market set-up, imports of steel are completely market driven and take place mainly due to the domestic non-availability or limited availability of specialised steel products and partly due to price considerations," she added.

Courtesy: Moneycontrol.com

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