India Eyes Funding Boost in Steel Scrap Processing Plants

SEATTLE (Scrap Monster): The Indian government is reportedly formulating a new policy, which focuses on boosting domestic as well as foreign investment in ferrous scrap processing plants in the country.

According to Ruchika Govil, Joint Secretary at Ministry of Steel in India, the new policy will promote widespread development of scrap aggregators, collection and dismantling centres and shredder facilities in the country. It will seek the help of foreign investors in setting up scrap processing centres in tie up with domestic entities.

Incidentally, Mahindra Group, which had set up the country’s first auto shredder facility in Greater Noida in Delhi NCR, aims to set up five additional plants capable of shredding automobiles and consumer durables. Several other automakers including Tata Motors and Hyundai Motor India too have submitted plans to set up similar shredding plants.

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The new policy is also expected to integrate scrap obtained from shipbreaking activities with collections of automotive, railway, household and industrial scrap.

The country’s steel scrap demand is estimated at around 29.31 million tonnes per year in the fiscal year ending March 2020, with supply projected to total nearly 27.3 million tonnes. The short supply of scrap steel gets filled via imports from other countries.

The electric arc furnaces and induction furnaces make use of ferrous scrap as steelmaking raw material. The reforms in scrap processing facilities will help boost steel sector growth in the country. The country targets to achieve steel production capacity of 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030, as outlined in the National Steel Policy (NSP).