India has the potential to become a regional hub for the steel industry, participants at the fifth Asian Steel Conference felt.
They reckoned that the country's steel output would cross the 70 million tonne mark by 2010, which stands at 35 million tonne per annum.
"For the first time the demand for steel in India has overtaken that of China. We should look at sustaining it, said S K Gupta, chairman, Ecocoke and Power. It will depend on the public sector investment on infrastructure and the government should take a lead in this, he added. The speakers also agreed that there is abundant raw material.
"Plenty of iron ore is available in dumps," stated Amit Mazumdar, managing director, Minmet Resources.
Some of the delegates even felt that there were chances of prices going down further, they were confident that it would soon stabilise.
Ashok Pandit, managing director of Tata Sponge Iron pointed out to the low per capita consumption of steel in the country, at about 30 kg, which is among the lowest in the world.
A key factor for India to emerge as a leader in steel hub is strong domestic consumption, which is absent. The main issue, said the speakers, is the cost-effectiveness of the Indian manufacturers and their competitiveness in the global market.
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