Mission Purvodaya: Accelerated Development of Steel Sector
A workshop on “Enabling Procedures for Increase of Steel Usage for the Growth of Economy” was organised by the Ministry of Steel in partnership with the Government of Japan and Confederation of Indian Industries (CII).
- The Eastern belt has the potential to add more than 75% of the country’s incremental steel capacity. In India’s march towards a $5 trillion economy, the eastern states can play a major role where the steel sector can become the catalyst.
- It is expected that out of the 300 MT capacity by 2030-31, over 200 MT can come from this region alone, driven by Industry 4.0.
- Earlier, Japan and India have also launched the India Japan Steel Dialogue to ensure sustainable growth of the steel sector. Iron ore exports from India, particularly Odisha, helped Japan in becoming a leading economic power.
Mission Purvodaya
- It was launched in 2020 for the accelerated development of eastern India through the establishment of an integrated steel hub in Kolkata, West Bengal.
- The focus will be on eastern states of India (Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal) and northern part of Andhra Pradesh which collectively hold ~80% of the country’s iron ore, ~100% of coking coal and significant portion of chromite, bauxite and dolomite reserves.
- The Integrated Steel Hub would focus on 3 key elements:
- Capacity addition through easing the setup of Greenfield steel plants.
- Development of steel clusters near integrated steel plants as well as demand centres.
- Transformation of logistics and utilities infrastructure which would change the socio-economic landscape in the East.
- The objective of this hub would be to enable swift capacity addition and improve overall competitiveness of steel producers both in terms of cost and quality.