A Steel Tube Summit, organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) on August 26, 2011 at New Delhi has concluded that the Indian steel industry is poised to meet the 2020 targets with growing demand from steel tubes and pipes sector. The summit brought together industry leaders from the steel tube and steel industries, key players from the user segment, major stakeholders and policy makers in sessions that discussed the challenges faced by the industry, the expectations from user industries, future roadmap for growth and the need for increased efforts towards technological innovations.

In his inaugural address, Mr P K Misra, Secretary, Ministry of Steel stated that the steel tubes and pipes sector constituted a niche segment and holds immense potential for growth in the coming decades. This growth is driven by a huge surge in demand, given the increasing use of pipeline transportation in a wide variety of sectors - including oil and natural gas, petroleum, water and even agriculture. He added that in future, there would be an increased transportation of slurry using pipes, and that the sector was therein enabling a low cost, effective transportation.

Mr Misra also said that the steel industry must also ensure a consonant growth in production levels so as to meet the increasing demands placed on it. The government hopes to create a steel production capacity of 200 MT by the year 2020 and this gave the steel industry and the steel tubes and pipes sector a huge impetus. He said that the Indian Steel Tubes industry enjoyed the reputation of producing impeccable quality products but was challenged by high costs of raw materials and subsequent low margins. The challenge for the steel tubes and pipe sector would lie in moving away from its current stand alone disposition to more consolidated productions in larger diameters. He said that the Steel Industry would pick up in the coming months, and reach its targeted 10 per cent by the end of the financial year.

Mr Misra stated that he envisaged changes in the new Mines and Mineral Development Regulation (M.M.D.R.) Act that would function to create a level playing field for all stakeholders, while allowing Industry to benefit in equal measure.

Responding to a question on how the Steel Ministry views the current challenges faced by industry in getting environmental clearances and acquiring land, he said that a Group of Ministers headed by the Finance Minister had been constituted to deliberate on these issues, and added that the Ministry's suggestions were being looked into. He also said that plans were on the anvil to make the process of getting environment clearances less complex and more efficient.

Dr Vinod Nowal, Director and CEO, J S W Steel Ltd called for concerted efforts to address the challenges faced by the steel and steel tubes industry. The Indian industry, with a current production capacity of 69.93 mt, is the world's second largest steel producer, and had huge demands to meet in the local and global markets. He said that there was a pressing need for increased R&D and the creation of new technological innovations. Dr Nowal added that there exists a huge shortage of skilled manpower and called for skill training initiatives to address these gaps in the steel tubes sector.

He also stated that the steel pipes industry was going to benefit greatly from the growing demands placed on the pipe market, given the government's decision to create a pipe outlay of 80,000 km in the 12th plan. Regulations still impeded the industry, and Dr Nowal called for a proactive role by the Ministry in addressing these issues.

In his opening remarks, Mr Rajiv Mangal, Chairman, CII Steel Tube Division and Executive In-Charge, TATA Steel Ltd, called for the drawing up of a concrete roadmap for growth during the summit deliberations.