In view of the growing concerns over climate change and increasing global commitments to combat emissions, the Indian iron and steel industry has recognized transition towards a more sustainable and low-carbon future. Driven by population, economic growth and growing demand of steel, total CO2 emissions from the iron and steel sector have risen. Due to which, the sector has significant role to achieve India’s net zero targets. As agreed in Paris Agreement, to enhance India’s contributions towards climate change, Govt. of India is focusing on adoption of low-carbon technologies, improving energy efficiency, material efficiency and recycling leading to expansion of circular economy for iron and steel sector.

European Union’s recent policy on carbon pricing Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) intends to charge carbon tax on imports of iron, steel, aluminum and cement, which may lead to higher production cost in the sector. As a result, industries’ reliance on fossil fuels could make Indian exports less price-competitive in the EU market and would adversely impact the bottom-line of domestic steel producers. To address such issues, there is need for adoption of green technology, sustainable practices and decarbonization technologies and switching to renewable energy driven by solar and hydrogen-based production in the manufacturing of steel.

India is favorably endowed with 35.2 billion tones of iron ore resources, which is the main raw material to produce steel.   India is currently second largest steel producer in the world. Driven by rising infrastructure development and growing demand from sectors like automobile, construction, consumer durable, India’s crude steel production has expanded to 127 MT in financial year 2022-23 in comparison to 120 MT in 2021-22. Even though total Finished Steel production has increased to 121 MT in 2022-23 from 113 MT in 2021-2022, the per capita steel consumption is only 81.1 kg, which is much lower than the global average of 221.8 kg.

The National Steel Policy 2017 projected steel production capacity of 300 million tones with production of 255 MT of steel and steel per capita consumption of 160 Kg by 2030-31. The policy also stipulates requirement of iron ore 437 MT with coking coal 161 MT by 2030-31. For achieving such an ambitious target, it is imperative that a roadmap for availability of raw material like iron ore, coal, manganese, chromite, ferro-alloys, SMS grade limestone, Dolomite should be in place.

Under ‘Coking Coal Mission’ Ministry of Coal is also foreseeing to increase domestic coking coal blending percentage in steel making from present 10% to 30% along with enhancing domestic coking coal washing capacity from 23 MT in FY 2022 to 61 MT in FY 2023. In order to encourage coal gasification technology, Ministry of Coal has adopted new initiative ‘Production of Syn-Gas leading to coal gasification’ which will also mitigate the adverse impacts of the conventional use of coal on the environment. To achieve this goal, there is need to have focus on adoption of new Technologies and Innovation making the industry sustainable and align with India's net zero targets.

In the above backdrop, for maximizing and highlighting the opportunities and growth potential of Indian iron and steel sector, FIMI is organizing conference on Iron & Steel – Challenges and Opportunities from 9-10 October, 2023 at Taj M.G. Road, Bengaluru.