International Conference on Steel organized at Ranchi
ICONS24 FOCUSES ON CAPITAL GOODS
MECON Limited along with SAIL, under the aegis of Ministry of Steel,
Government of India is organizing a two days International Conference on Steel
(ICONS-2024): Focus on Capital Goods on 30th & 31st May 2024 at Ranchi.
The objective of the conference is to bring together the brightest minds
and leading stakeholders from across the steel industry, including technology
providers, steel producers, manufacturers, academia and more to foster new
partnerships, explore innovative solutions and to drive forward the future of
steel industry.
Sanjay Kumar Verma, CMD-MECON welcomed all the dignitaries and set the
context of the conference. The inaugural session of the Conference was attended
by Shri Nagendra Nath Sinha- Secretary-Ministry of Steel, GoI, Ms. Sukriti
Likhi- Additional Secretary & Financial Advisor, MoS, Shri Abhijit
Narendra-Joint Secretory MoS, Dr. Sanjay Roy-Jt. Secretory, MoS, Shri Amitava
Mukherjee, CMD-NMDC, Shri Ajit Kumar Saxena, CMD-MOIL, Shri Sanjay Kumar Verma,
CMD & Director commercial Addl charge-MECON and Shri Amarendu Prakash-
Chairman-SAIL. Some dignitaries also joined virtually through video conference.
CMD-SAIL, CMD-MOIL and CMD-NMDC addressed the gathering.
In the special address, Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary-MoS, GoI said that
today meticulous project planning and timely execution has become one of the
biggest challenges for the steel projects being set up in India. He stressed on
the need to find out innovative ways of timely executing our projects for
keeping steel projects healthy and for their long-term sustainability. He also
emphasized on new ways of working, new ideas, new talents need to be inducted
to revive Heavy industry sector.
Abhijit Narendra, Joint Secretary-MoS, GoI said that although we are
second in steel production, but we have limitations in making machineries for
steel industry. He stressed on to create an Ecosystem containing all the
stakeholders.
CMD- NMDC mentioned that India is the 5th largest
Economy, we are the most young and vibrant nation. India is basically service
sector-based nation. Manufacturing sector needs to grow substantially and areas
should be identified categorically. Constant interaction is needed between
technology provider and technology buyer to educate each other on the possibilities
and requirement of the future.
CMD- MOIL said that capital goods sector is very strategic part of
economy. Capital goods sector is considered as mother of manufacturing sector.
He emphasized that integrated steel plant shall have big engineering workshop.
CMD-SAIL said that considering the volatility in the world, we need to
focus on supply chain security since securing supply- chain is becoming more
and more difficult. He emphasized on development of a comprehensive and
sustainable eco system for the production of indigenized capital
goods.
CMD-MECON spoke about National Steel Policy (NSP)-2017 and further
elaborated that as per policy target to reach the 300 Mt steel capacity
- about 138-139 Mt of new capacity is estimated to be
added in next 7-8 years involving a huge investment of US$ 120-130
billion from the Indian Steel industry. There will be a likely import
of about 15-20% of steel plant equipment from foreign countries. Given the
current situation, where the import content and value rise as we move up the
value chain, about $ 18-20 billion worth of imported equipment
is likely to be sourced from abroad besides spares worth of about US$
400-500 million.
In order to strengthen domestic manufacturing, it is vital to explore
strategies like technology transfer or international technology provider to
establish manufacturing units in India.
The First Day of the conference also covered four technical sessions:
· Trends and
Challenges in Coke Making Technology
· Trends and
Challenges in Agglomeration Technology
· Trends and
Challenges in Iron Making Technology
· Trends and
Challenges in Steel Making Technology
Senior representatives from manufacturing companies, Iron & Steel
producers, equipment suppliers, engineering & consultancy companies were
present during the day long conference. Participation of academia signified the
collaborative willingness to take up the challenges.