The total number of steel plants in the country is 977. In the public sector, work is currently going on in NMDC Steel Plant in Nagarnar, Chhattisgarh which is a Greenfield steel plant. Steel is a deregulated sector where market forces and commercial considerations decide construction of new steel plants.
The import of steel has increased marginally in the last 3 years from 7.23 Million Tonnes in 2016-17 to 7.84 Million Tonnes in 2018-19 as shown table below:-
| Import of Steel (in MT) | |
| Year | Import |
| 2016-17 | 7.23 |
| 2017-18 | 7.48 |
| 2018-19 | 7.84 |
| Source: JPC | |
However, domestic steel production has consistently increased regardless of such imports. Import of certain steel grades which are not manufactured or manufactured in adequate quantity in the country is required for supporting manufacturing sector as well as the country’s export of machinery, automobiles etc.. This information was given by the Union Minister for Steel Shri Dharmendra Pradhan in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today.
