The Hindu Business Line : `Steel cos must hold prices or desist from seeking sops'

New Delhi May 24 Steel prices may not go up further in the near future with the Government today announcing that the steel industry must hold prices if wants to continue receiving various concessions extended by the Government.

Stating that steel prices have gone up by about 15 per cent in the past three years, Minister for Steel Mr Ram Vilas Paswan today said that steel majors must either desist from arbitrarily raising prices or lose out on concessions.

"The Government and the industry work together and the industry approaches us for various concessions," he said.

"We have sent signals to them to keep prices under control," he added.

"If they cannot do this, they should not be getting concessions."

Mr Paswan also said that in the past three years, various States have signed 173 memoranda of understanding with a total intended capacity of 196 million tonnes per annum involving investment of more than Rs 5 lakh crore.

"Even if a part of this intended capacity is realised, the impact on the economy would be huge."

He added that the Government had constituted a price monitoring committee to formulate a strategy for future pricing, analyse the variations and act as a watchdog to ensure a free and fair market environment.

Stating that several sick companies have been revived in the last three years, Mr Paswan said that apart from merging sick IISCO with SAIL, the Government also approved a revival package of Rs 100.72 crore for MECON in February this year.

In order to bridge the price difference between urban and rural markets, the Minister said that public sector steel companies have been directed to sell steel at the same rate throughout the country; the extra cost of transportation to the rural market would be borne by the companies.

The per capita consumption of steel in the country is around 32 kg, against a global average of 150 kg.

Mr Paswan said that in order to increase this figure, a national steel promotion campaign was jointly launched by the Government and the industry in March this year.