The Union Minister for Steel and Mines, Narendra Singh Tomar inaugurated the ‘Steel Pavilion’ at India International Trade Fair (IITF) at Pragati Maidan here today. Minister of State for Steel and Mines, Shri Vishnu Deo Sai, Secretary (Steel) Shri Rakesh Singh and other senior officers were present on the occasion. While addressing media persons on the occasion Shri Tomar said, “India is the 4th largest producer of crude steel in the world and is expected to become 2nd largest producer of crude steel soon. India maintains its position of being largest producer of sponge iron in the world. Steelmakers in the country are playing an instrumental role in fuelling growth in the country by strengthening its infrastructural backbone and by creating employment opportunities. The steel sector contributes nearly 2% of the country’s GDP and employs over 6 lakh people. Per capita consumption of finished steel stood at around 60 kg. Rural per capita consumption of around 10 kg is an indicator of the potential for future growth.”
The 34th edition of IITF is being organized by the India Trade Promotion Organization from 14-27th November,2014 at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi. For the last several years, the Ministry of Steel has been putting up its ‘Steel Pavilion’ in IITF with the objective to showcase the growth of steel industry in the country. This year too, Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs) of the Ministry of Steel viz SAIL, RINL, NMDC, MOIL, MECON, KIOCL, MSTC, FSNL, HSCL as also the Joint Plant Committee along with private sector steel companies viz TATA Steel and JSPL have come together to showcase the power of steel in strengthening India in the ‘Steel Pavilion’.
The theme of this years’ Fair is ‘Women Entrepreneurship’. Various stalls in the Steel Pavilion not only showcase the achievements and contribution made by respective companies in the steel sector but also the contribution of women workforce in the steel sector. The stalls also highlight the activities undertaken under the Corporate Social Responsibility including skill development of women. The position of women and their status in any society is an index of its civilization. Entrepreneurship enhances financial independence and self-esteem of a woman. There is a need to enable participation of large number of women in entrepreneurship to promote not only their growth opportunities, but also contribute to the nation’s development. It is noteworthy that crude Steel capacity in the country stood at 101 million tonnes in 2013-14 and the crude steel production was 81.69 million tonnes. India is a net exporter of finished steel and the export of total finished steel was 5.98 million tonnes in 2013-14.