Mumbai
The government has urged steel companies to take advantage of performance linked incentive (PLI) scheme to add new products that can boost exports.
In a meeting with industry officials on the sidelines of India Steel 2023 organised by FICCI on Wednesday, Ruchika Chaudhry Govil, Additional Secretary, Steel Ministry, said the industry participation under the scheme was disappointing and warned the sector would lose out the incentive kitty if companies do not show much interest.
“There is ₹4,000 crore to be availed in the PLI scheme. This is the last opportunity, if not done, the government will take the budgetary allocation and give it to other rising industry,” she said.
The ₹4,000 crore is part of the total ₹6,322 crore approved under the scheme for the industry. The Steel Ministry plans to bring in the second round of the PLI scheme by May-end.
Also read: Steel Ministry working on PLI 2.0 for specialty steel
In order to attract more interest, the government also plans to extend the second round of the PLI scheme to all kinds of domestic steel production and not limit it to speciality steels.
Qualifying cos
The projects floated by top five steel companies -- Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JSPL, AMNS India and SAIL – have already qualified for the PLI scheme for specialty steel. Besides, these companies there are a few others such as Gallant Metalliks, Shyam Metalics Flat Products, and Sunflag Iron and Steel who have been selected to invest under the PLI scheme.
Last December, the government shortlisted 67 out of 79 applications, with an investment potential of ₹42,500 crore, under the PLI scheme for specialty steel. The proposed investments are expected to generate 70,000 job opportunities and add 26 million tonnes of speciality steel capacity.
Last July, the Union Cabinet approved a ₹6,322-crore PLI scheme to boost the production of speciality steel in India.
Some of the categories of specialty steel included in the scheme are coated/plated steel products, high strength/wear-resistant steel, specialty rails, alloy steel products, and steel wires and electrical steel.