Team News Riveting
Raipur, October 17
Indian Steel tycoon and Chairman of the Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) Naveen Jindal said that the steel sector was excited by the introduction of visionary initiatives like Aatmanirbhar Bharat.
Welcoming the concept of Aatmanirbhar Bharat as a visionary step of the government, Jindal said that it required rapid development of industries and that could be ensured with the easy availability of the raw material.
“The steel sector is excited by the introduction of visionary initiatives like Aatmanirbhar Bharat under the leadership of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi and the Steel Minister Shri Dharmendra Pradhan and also going to join the pioneering sectors whose contribution to the goal of Aatmanirbhar Bharat can be achieved easily,” Jindal.
JSPL chairman was addressing a digital conference organized by the Indian Chamber of Commerce on “Aatmanirbhar Bharat: Focus on Downstream Industry in Chemicals and Petrochemicals and Steel Sector 2020” in coordination with the Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas and the Steel.
He added that any industry could grow only when the conditions of production were conducive to it. The preconditions include easy availability of raw materials, logical and minimum tax rates, royalty, and other obligations so that the products could compete in the international market and make their permanent place.
He said that the alternatives to energy were increasing day by day. Development of renewable energy resources like solar, wind, hydroelectricity would reduce coal usage after approximately the next 30 years, so they should try to achieve the goal of a self-reliant India at the earliest by auctioning coal blocks as thermal coal was available in India in abundance.
He gave a similar opinion about iron ore mines and praised the Odisha government’s transparent auction policies and asked other mineral-rich states to take inspiration from it. According to him, in the next 30 years, there would be so much production of iron and steel in the world that recycling of steel would become a priority instead of mines, so India should build a strong economy by using Aatmanirbhar Bharat mission.
He said that electricity should also be cheaper to run healthy industries. Now Electricity is available for Rs 1.50 at the exchange, and gets many times more expensive by reaching the factory through the distribution system. The government should focus on this.
Highlighting the technology of making gas from coal (CGP), Jindal said that the technology produced synthesis gas, which was a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. The gas was basically chemical energy that can produce many items including petroleum products, Mentha, diesel, ammonia which can be beneficial in steel manufacturing as well as oil and natural gas, agriculture, fertilizer and for so many other industries.
On JSPL’s contribution to nation-building, he said that the company gave many products to the country first. These include parallel flange beams, slab casters, 5 meter wide plates, head hardened rails for metro, and also asymmetric rails. Similarly, JSPL is the only private sector manufacturer of rail tracks. JSPL is the first private company that gifted the nation with an independent power plant at Tamnar In Raigarh i.e. Jindal Power Limited. The venture inspired dozens of power plants that took the country in a respectable position in terms of capacity.
