Chaudhary Birender Singh Addressed to SAIL

New Delhi. “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’,” said Chaudhary Birender Singh, Minister for Steel, Government of India, while addressing the gathering of honchos from the steel industry at ‘India Steel 2017’ conference organized by FICCI in Mumbai. 

 

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

 

Chaudhary Birender Singh said, “I suggest that 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 analyzing 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.” 

 

“In my view, in the current scenario, we need to focus on the following five important thrust areas and to make it easy to remember. We have coined an acronym ‘PRIDE’ that aptly sums up the way forward for the steel industry; P stands for Production & Productivity; R for Research & Development; I for Indian-made steel; D for Demand of Steel; and E for Excellence in quality,” Chaudhary Singh said and added, “each of these areas is important from the perspective of ‘Make in Steel’, which I understand is essential for maximizing usage of steel in different segments of industry. I am sure you will all use PRIDE as your guiding principle for Make in Steel Roadmap for the industry”.