Steel belongs to iron-carbon system and this system has the following unique features:
- Fe-carbon system possesses some solubility for several elements of the periodic table whic results into production of diversified range of materials for application to all industries including aero- and auto industries
- Steel is recyclable and hence is a green material. Also the main element in steel is iron and iron is the fourth abundant element in the earth crust and corresponds to 5% of the weight of the earth crust.
Steel is a material which can be made available for most of the engineering applications. Steel is one of the infrastructural materials that are needed for the economic growth and hence for the industrial growth of any nation.
Why Steel consumption in India should rise?
India is a developing nation. It requires industrial growth for the prosperity. The per capita consumption of steel in India is 40 kg as compared with an average 150 kg across the globe and 250 kg in China. Low per capita consumption of steel indicates that no meaningful infrastructural development has occurred in the country as a whole. India needs large consumption of steel for the growth of the following infrastructures:
- Modernization of air ports
- Expansion of railway tracks
- Auto industry
- Road projects
- Real estates
- Safety and other development programmes of Indian railways
Growth in the above sectors will automatically raise the per capita steel consumption. It is estimated that per capita steel consumption will rise to 110 kg by the year 2020-21 and 300 kg by the year 2030-31. These projections may look to be optimistic, but one thing is certain and that is steel requirement will increase in India in the near future. To sustain the steel requirement, Indian steel industry has to grow fast. |
