Government includes ‘Specialty Steel’ under the Production Linked Incentive

The Union Minister for Steel Dharmendra Pradhan informed Rajya Sabha that the Central Government has included the ‘Specialty Steel’ under the Production Linked Incentive- PLI. The details were shared by the union minister in a written reply to Rajya Sabha on February 10, 2021.

The Union Minister, in a written reply, mentioned that this step by the government will help in improving the availability of the ‘specialty steel’ in the country by making India Atmanirbhar in meeting the domestic demand.

Govt’s approval for specialty steel:

In a written reply, the Union Minister of Steel informed that the Union Government has given its approval for the inclusion of ‘Specialty steel’ under the Production Linked Incentive scheme.

The approval has been given with a 5-year financial outlay of Rs. 6,322 cores for promoting the manufacturing of Specialty steel within India by attracting capital investment, promote technology up-gradation, and generating employment in the steel sector. This will help in the availability of the ‘Specialty steel’ in the domestic market of India.

Why the inclusion of specialty steel is significant?

The move by the government to include the specialty steel in PLI is important as in the deregulated, open market scenario, the prices of the domestic steel are determined by the market forces of demand and supply as well as trends in the prices of the raw materials. They are also influenced by the global steel trade conditions. However, with this inclusion, this will not be the case and the availability of the steel will be ensured.

About Production Linked Incentive:

The IT ministry, as part of the National Policy on Electronics, had on April 1, 2020, notified a scheme which will give incentives of 4-6% to the electronics companies that manufacture the mobile phones as well as other electronic components.

As per the officials, the scheme on one hand will attract one big foreign investment in the sector and will also encourage the domestic mobile phone makers to expand their presence and units in India.