The National Steel Policy could be a Non-Starter

Image: Mukesh Gupta / Reuters

This looks like another policy announcement with no thought about its implementation. A draft of the National Steel Policy 2012 says India’s crude steel capacity will increase to 300 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2025 from about 88 mtpa in 2011. But there are many problems: The increase is dependent on an annual GDP growth of 7 percent which, at present, is too optimistic; second, the government wants to set up special purpose vehicles of public sector enterprises to build capacities (one has to just look at the dismal record on building capacities of the biggest steel PSU—SAIL—for this); third, the track record is poor (earlier estimates say steel capacity should have crossed 120 mtpa in 2012, instead it was about 80 mtpa).