Dharmendra Pradhan urges steel industry to become environment friendly & boost production

Union Minister of Steel Dharmendra Pradhan while inaugurating the ISA Steel Conclave 2019 organized by the Indian Steel Association (ISA) on Thursday has urged the steel industry to adopt environment-friendly practices with the help of technology in a bid to mitigate the climate change. He also encouraged the industry to boost production which would be instrumental in India's vision of becoming a five trillion dollar economy in the next five years.

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"The industry must deploy technology and innovation to develop environment-friendly processes. As a responsible nation, we are contributing to mitigating climate change. We have set an ambitious plan of achieving 450 gigawatt capacity of renewable energy. I appeal to the industry to work towards achieving the mission of green steel," he said.

As the country invests Rs 100 trillion in creating and upgrading infrastructure, steel consumption is poised to grow exponentially. In 2018-19, India jumped to the second spot after surpassing Japan in world crude steel production, first in the list being China with 945 out of the total 1,804 million tonnes of steel produced globally. 

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"There is no reason why India cannot be a net exporter of steel. For the nation to develop, we must promote the domestic industry and be a net exporter of steel," Pradhan said while urging the industry to promote localization and do the hand-holding for ancillary sectors.

"The world is witnessing Industry 4.0 with big data, digitization and artificial intelligence fundamentally changing the economy and society. Even in wake of such large-scale disruptions, steel continues to play an important role in building modern economies," he added. The Union Minister is of the view that the Indian economy is consumption-driven and as the economy's size increases, the steel consumption would also get a great impetus.

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ISA Steel Conclave 2019

The two-day conclave which is held on November 21 and 22 features discussions between the Senior Industry Leaders, the government and the consultants on the innovations and technology, role of steel in construction & design, steel exports, capital goods, environmental management and other Cutting-edge issues.

(With ANI inputs)

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