India’s steel production and demand is expected to grow at a healthy rate of more than 6 -7% , CMD of the National Mineral Development Corporation N Baijendra Kumar said.
Speaking at the Iron Ore Week (IOW) at Singapore organized by SCX, Kumar said India would be a bright spot in the “steel world” as demand and consumption in major countries like Japan, China and the countries in the European Union (EU) were expected to be stagnant.
Kumar said government’s push on Infrastructure etc would help achieve the targets of steel policy 2017.
“Per capita consumption of steel, steel production capacity increasing in line to meet the NSP targets of 300 million tonnes by FY31,” he added.
Currently $14-15 billion investment is in the pipeline in steel sector that would substantially increase steel-making capacity, the NMDC CMD said according to a report received here.
The NMDC is fully geared up to meet the increased iron ore demand and is investing in mines and evacuation capacity for augmenting capacity to almost double in the next 3-4 years, he informed the audience.
The NMDC is India’s largest producer of iron ore and 10th largest in the world. It has the best quality ore, with highest Fe content, in the world and more than adequate reserves to cater to India’s enhanced needs.
NMDC’s operations are comparable to the best in the world and on several indices like cost of production, employee costs, its performance is comparable with international giants like Vale, Rio Tinto, FMG etc.
It has also excellent track record on environmental protection, social responsibility and regulatory compliances.
Indian ore is cheaper by 50-55% than imported ore, which gives Indian steel industry a great competitive advantage.
The NMDC is also exploring the opportunity to export its tailings from Bailadila sector as current international prices of ore would make it feasible and profitable to do so.
Keen interest was shown by many participants of the IOW in this regard and several trade enquires were made.
It was the first time that CEO of an Indian Company participated in panel discussions in such a prestigious international event.
On the side lines of the event, during the round table conference of CEOs, Kumar, IAS, mentioned that his experience of having worked as a senior bureaucrat in Chhattisgarh government, which is a difficult terrain for mines and where the company’s big mines were situated had helped him immensely.
He mentioned that it is important for a mining company to take care of the local community and his focus has been on the same since he took over the helm of the NMDC.
He agreed with Cynthia Carroll, former chief executive officer of international giant Anglo American that environmental protection, social initiatives and compliance regimes are key to success of any mining company.
Kumar mentioned that the NMDC has won the Platt’s award for CSR last year and had been shortlisted for the same award again this year.
He also mentioned that the NMDC would be happy to participate in such global events on a regular basis so that visibility of the company improves and investor confidence is generated.
He agreed with most peers that the NMDC has largely not been visible in the world community.
Its recall is much less than what it should be keeping in view its commendable financial and physical performance.
He assured that he would take personal initiative to communicate and interact with the global steel and iron ore community and investors so that the NMDC gets the respect and recall it deserves.
On the sidelines, Kumar also assured that the NMDC is fully geared up to take over any mine that it may be offered to it in any state of India, in the eventuality of any disruption in allocation of mines through auction to be held next year in India.