New Delhi [India], Feb 24 : Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Monday stressed the need for collaborations between India and Japan to increase steel usage.
Highlighting Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of 5 trillion US dollar economy, he said that various policy reforms and the initiatives like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Har Ghar Jal Yojana, unprecedented speed of construction in railways and roads, creation of a gas-based economy, creation of new agri-storage facilities and many others are set to drive steel demand growth.
Speaking about the Indian steel sector, the minister said that with a large market, policy reforms, abundance of raw material, India is one of the most attractive global investment destinations in the steel sector.
Lauding Japan's technological competence, he invited the Japanese industry to invest in India and get into technology transfer partnerships in order to tap the opportunities arising out of growing steel demand and generate employment opportunities in the country.
Pradhan, who was speaking at the workshop on 'Enabling Procedures for increase of steel usage for the growth of Economy,' also stated that in the next 20 years, India is set to be the largest energy market in the world.
"USD 60 billion is being invested in the creation of energy infrastructure in the country. Addition of about 16,000-km of gas pipelines will further give a boost to steel demand," he said.
Minister of State for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste said that steel is crucial to the development of any modern economy and is considered to be the backbone of industrial development. He mentioned about the usage of steel in developing disaster resilient structures.
The workshop witnessed participation from policy-makers, bureaucrats, steel PSUs, integrated steel producers, secondary steel producers, infrastructure developers, equipment manufacturers, user orgsations and associations, academicians, secondary steel associations, steel consultants, among others.
( With inputs from ANI )