India’s Ministry of Steel is planning to set up two scrap-based steel mills by state-owned steel companies in collaboration with private investors, a government official said on Tuesday, July 3.
The official said that, while government steel companies will take the lead in setting up the scrap-based steel mills, one in northern India and another located in the southern region, they will be set up through joint ventures with domestic or international private investors.
In line with the government’s policy of prompting scrap-based steelmaking in the country as per the new National Steel Policy, the steel mills will be based on a ‘hub-and-spoke’ model, the official said.
The ‘spoke’ will be the 20 auto scrapping and shredding plants that the government is planning to set up across the country, while the two scrap-based steel mills will act as the ‘hub’ for optimal usage of the scrap to be generated by these shredding plants, the official added.
State-owned trading firm MSTC Limited (formerly Metal Scrap Trading Corporation Limited) has already drawn up plans to construct six of the 20 planned auto scrapping and shredding plant. MSTC’s first such plant set up in joint venture with Mahindra Intertrade located in Noida, in northern India went on stream last month. Although it could not be officially confirmed, industry sources said that Tata Steel is also planning to construct a steel scrap processing and shredding plant at Gurugram, Harayana in northern India.