India’s union cabinet has approved the production-linked (PLI) scheme for specialty steel. The government has allocated Rs63.22bn for the scheme. With this move, the government plans to take India’s specialty steel production to 42mn mt by 2026-27, from the present 18mn mt.
Incentives will be provided in three slabs for electrical steel in the range of 4-12pc. Through the scheme, the government aims to develop the specialty steel sector in India and lower dependence on imports.
In 2020-2021, production in India stood at 102mn mt, of which, only 18mn mt was value-added or specialty steel. Moreover, of the 6.7mn mt steel imports, 4mn mt were specialty steel.
Through the scheme, the Indian government is also trying to attract investments to establish manufacturing hubs from countries that are trying to lower their dependence on China.