New Delhi

The government is working on a new National Steel Policy to boost industry competitiveness and curb import challenges, and the draft policy will be put in the public domain for stakeholder feedback in about a week, Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrik said on Tuesday.

The new policy will set a road map up to 2047 for the Indian steel industry, he said.

The top Ministry official also informed about a linked scheme which is being formulated at an outlay of Rs 5,000 crore to encourage reduction of emissions by the steel sector.

Speaking to reporters at the Manufacturing Confluence 2026 event organised by the industry body Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Poundrik said the National Steel Policy will be brought into the public domain in about a week for comments from stakeholders.

This Policy is being formulated with a vision to bring India to the Viksit Bharat target in 2047.

As far as imports are concerned, the policy also gives measures to discourage cheap, substandard imports, including safeguard measures like safeguard duty, anti-dumping duty, etc., as well as to make the Indian steel industry and especially the small steel players competitive in terms of technology and price.

The government had introduced a National Steel Policy in 2017, aimed at increasing India's steel manufacturing capability to 300 MT by 2030 along with other parameters such as consumption, ensuring raw material availability, among others steps.

However, according to the official, the 2017 policy "needed a relook" taking current challenges and requirements.

The steel Secretary said that since 2017, emerging priorities like artificial intelligence, machine learning and technical upgrades require greater focus. Additionally, India's global standing in the steel sector has risen with increasing consumption and capacity.

India is the only country in the world, major country in the world, which is growing in capacity and consumption with such a speed, he said, adding that there are issues like decarbonization and sustainability.

"So, that is why we are bringing a new policy so that we have a road map for the next two decades up to 2047," Poundrik said.

According to a presentation made by the official at the event, the new policy aims at various measures for MSME's.

"We are proposing a scheme which is called Viksit Bharat Ispat which is only targeted at small steel producers where they will be given incentive link to their production, which will be dependent on reduction of carbon emission. Now, reduction of carbon emissions can only be done by using better technology, by using better raw material and more use of renewable energy," he said.

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The scheme, having an outlay of Rs 5,000 crore, is likely to be approved by the competent authority in the near future, he said.