Govt focus on infra to boost steel industry: Tata Steel

KOLKATA:The steel industry will benefit if the government invests more on infrastructure which will lead to an increase in the demand for steel, Tata Steel Global CEO and managing director T N Narendran has said.

Narendran also hoped that in the forthcoming Union budget the government would spend more on infrastructure."If you invest in infrastructure, the demand for steel goes up. You cannot build infrastructure without steel," he said.

He was speaking during an informal chat on the sidelines of Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Meet 2018 here yesterday.

"If government invests more and more in infrastructure or intends to do so, it is good for the industry," he said when asked about the forthcoming budget.Optimistic about the infrastructure push by the government and make in India efforts, Tata Steel board has already taken a call to expand the Kalinganager integrated steel project to eight million tonne from three million tonne now at an investment of Rs 23,500 crore, to be completed within 48 months.

The board has also approved a rights issue for an amount not exceeding Rs 12,800 crore. The total capacity of Tata Steel India operations following the above expansion will be 18 million tonne per annum.

Narendran also pointed higher production will lead to multiple benefits like lowering of cost of steel production and will remove at least some inefficiencies in logistics.
"In India logistics is a bigger issue which drags you down but once you build infrastructure some of these issues get addressed," he said.

He said automobile business was doing good and construction sector and rural economy is picking up.