The 14th Coaltrans India Conference was held recently. Prominent industry leaders from the coal and coke, steel, mining, finance and other key sectors participated in the programme. Minister of Railways, Suresh Prabhu, graced the occasion as the chief guest of the opening session. Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Coal, Anil Swarup also interacted with the delegates on the occasion.
Chairman, SAIl, CS Verma while interacting with the delegates at the event said that steel is integral to the growth of any country’s economy and is one of the indices for assessing the economic development of a nation. He added that the demand elasticity of steel is more than one for most developing countries which implies that if a GDP growth of eight to ten per cent is to be achieved, steel industry would need to grow higher than that percentage. Elaborating about the steel industry he said that steel sector contributes nearly two per cent to India’s GDP. He further highlighted that Indian steel industry has grown at a pace of ten per cent CAGR since 2000 and the per capita consumption of steel has increased from 29 kg to 58 kg in the same period.