Question

The following is the list of iron and steel plants located in various parts of india.
1. Visakhapatnam
2. Bhadravati
3. Jamshedpur
4. Salem
5. Rourkela
6. Bokaro
7. Vijayanagar
8. Durgapur
Which of the following iron and steel industries are located outside the chota nagpur region ?
(A) 1478
(B) 2367
(C) 1247
(D) 2578

Answer 1

Hint - Visakhapatnam, Bhadravati, Salem and Vijayanagar are located outside the Chotanagpur area. The Chotanagpur plateau region has the highest concentration of iron and steel industry. This is because of low cost iron ore, high grade raw material in proximity, cheap labor and great potential for development in the domestic market.

Complete answer - Iron and steel industries are among the most important industries in India. During 2016 to 2014, India was the third largest producer of crude steel. In 2019, India became the second largest steel producer in the world after China and is the largest producer of steel iron in the world. The industry produced 82.68 million tonnes of finished steel and 9.7 million tonnes of cast iron. Most of the iron and steel in India is made of iron ore.
The policy for this sector is governed by the Indian Ministry of Steel, which concerns itself with the coordination and planning of the growth and development of the iron and steel industry, both in the public and private sectors; Formulation of policies with iron, steel production, pricing, distribution, import and export, ferro alloys and refractories; And development of input industries mainly related to iron ore, manganese ore, chrome ore and refractories etc. required by the steel industry.
 Most of the public sector undertakings market their steel through the Steel Authority of India (SAIL). The Indian steel industry was delicensed and de-controlled in 1991 and 1992 respectively.
There are two types of steel plants - mini steel plants and integrated steel plants. About half of the country's steel is produced by medium and small enterprises.

 Mini steel plants are small, have electric furnaces and use steel scrap as well as sponge iron. They have re-rollers which also use steel ingots. They produce carbon steel and alloy steel of some specific specifications. There are around 650 mini steel plants in India
 Integrated steel plants are large, handling everything in one complex - from holding raw materials together to making, rolling and shaping steel. Iron ore, coke and flux are poured into the blast furnace and heated. Coke reduces the iron oxide in the ore to metal iron, and the molten mass separates into lava and iron. Some of the iron from the blast furnace is cooled, and marketed as pig iron; The rest of the original oxygen flows into the furnaces, where it is converted into steel. Iron and steel scraps can be added to both blast furnaces and basic iron furnaces. There are about five integrated cell plants in India.
The iron and steel industry in India is organized into three categories: major producers, other major producers and secondary producers. In 2004-05, the combined capacity of the main producers ie SAIL, TISCO and RINL was about 50% of India's total steel production capacity and production. The other major producers - ESSAR, ISPAT and JVSL - constitute about 20% of the total steel production capacity.
National Steel Policy 2005 has a long-term goal of being a modern and efficient steel industry of world standards in India. The focus is not only on achieving global efficiency in terms of cost, quality and product-mix, but also in terms of global standards of efficiency and productivity. The policy aims to achieve more than 100 million metric tonnes of steel per year from 2004-05 to the level of 38 million tonnes by 2019-20. This implies an annual growth of about 7.3% per year from 2004–5.
 The above strategic goal has been justified as world steel consumption was around 1000 million metric tons in 2004, which is expected to reach 1,395 million metric tons in 2015, up 2% per annum over the last fifteen years. China will continue to be a major contributor to world steel demand. Domestically, the growth rate of steel production in the last fifteen years was 7.0% per year. The estimated rate of 7.3% per year in India, compared with the projected national income growth rate of 7-8% per year, giving an income elasticity of steel consumption of about 1.
The draft NSP aims to develop a self-sufficient steel industry that is globally competitive. The policy proposes to set up a greenfield steel plant along the Indian coast under the Sagarmala project. It has been proposed to tap cheap imported raw materials such as coking coal and export the output without the huge cost burden. The policy also envisages the use of gas-based steel plants and electric furnaces to reduce the use of coking coal in blast furnaces. This policy aims to achieve 300 million tonnes of production by 2030–31.

So option C is the correct answer.

Note - According to the current policy, iron and steel can be imported independently. There has been a steady increase in the amount of imported steel in the country to meet the demands.Iron and steel are freely exportable. In the year 2010-11, India exported around 3.64 million tonnes of steel; In addition, it increased to 4.59 million tonnes in 2011-12. 2012-13 and 2013-14 did not see sharp growth with exports of 5.37 and 5.98 million tonnes respectively. Exports declined to 5.59 million tonnes in 2014-15.