India: Steel Ministry sets a target for doubling rural steel demand in coming decade

The government has a fixed objective of increasing rural consumption of steel from the current 19.6 kg/per capita to 38 kg by 2030-31. While the national steel consumption average stands at 74.7 kg, the government is aiming to increase rural per capita consumption to 36 mn t from the current 18-odd mn t/per annum. It deserves mention that demand emanating from rural India provided the silver lining during the COVID-19 lockdown when export demand coupled with rural recovery supported steel sales.

A Ministry of Steel webinar held on 20thOct'20, with CII on board, deliberated on topics of pressing importance. Below are highlights related to possible pathways for boosting steel consumption in rural India as outlined by various sectors:

• 2.95 core pucca houses under PMAY-G to generate demand for TMT/structural steel by 4.7 mn t; projected requirement of 7.1 mn t of steel till 2022
  
  
• Electricity towers, tanks, steel houses, metal doors and windows as well as roofs combined with water supply infrastructure and pipelines, storage vessels to give a big fillip to steel consumption
  
  
• Water supply, agro-processing, steel silos and rural construction to boost steel demand
  
  
• Need for import substitution in food processing plant and machinery - silos, conveyors and containers
  
  
• Steel for rural development - bridges and culverts: 424 km of bridges constructed under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana - over 5 mn t of steel already used and another 4.4 mn t to be used: emphasis on steel girder bridges over composite RCC girders
  
  
• Another 11 mn rural houses to be built by 2022: expected steel consumption is 4.4 mn t
  
  
• Standardizing of composite steel structures to boost steel usage
  
  
• Construction of anganwadis, seva kendras, rural toilets, disaster-prone structures will require more steel
  
  
• Agri-mechanization and precision agriculture as well as horticulture - ceiling preparations, harvesting equipment, panels, pumps, sprinklers, hand tools, polyhouses - to consume mor steel in the days to come
  
  
• Food Corporation of India needs silos for grain storage that are likely to consume 15 mn t of steel . Currently India is importing silos from Turkey, Canada, etc. With a view to putting in place silos for storage of 270 mn t of grains scope for indigenous modernization is unlimited
  
  
• Tankers for storage of milk in the dairy sector are ideally MS for outside and SS for inside. So, growth of steel is growth of the organized dairy sector
  
  
• Amul, the largest entity in the dairy business, estimates that for daily production of 90 crore litres in the next couple of decades about 25 lakh mt of steel would be required, out of which stainless steel should have a share of 5 lakh mt
  
  
• There is immediate need for import substitution in pasteurization, milking line, etc.
  
  
• Out of total steel usage in rural India, housing accounts for 54%
  
  
• While demand from LPG and utensils constitute for over 8%, demand for stainless steel emanates from sectors such as dairy and food processing
  
  
• Ministry of Steel is concerned about steel pricing issues with a view to augmenting rural steel demand - especially in agriculture and mechanized farming. However, issues related to carbon and water footprint, and recyclability also deserve special reconsideration