The Bengal Chamber organised the Metals Conclave 2018 on 18th July at The Lalit Great Eastern, Kolkata. This was the sixth edition of our annual Summit, and the principal objective was to create a platform for all relevant stakeholders to discuss, analyze, share best practices and bring forward the opportunities in Steel and other Metals industries, especially focused on the consumption of Steel.

Our objective is to create the largest and most relevant forum in the East so that this Summit creates the effective platform for metals-related business development discussions and brings the Government together with private players, corporates and consultants.

The world crude steel production reached 1630 million tonnes (mt) and showed a growth of 0.6% over 2015. The Indian steel industry has entered into a new development stage, post de-regulation, riding high on the resurgent economy and rising demand for steel. Rapid rise in production has resulted in India becoming the 3rd largest producer of crude steel in 2015 as well as in 2016. The country was the largest producer of sponge iron or DRI in the world during the period 2003-2015 and emerged as the 2nd largest global producer of DRI in 2016 (after Iran). India is also the 3rd largest finished steel consumer in the world and maintained this status in 2016. The Government has released the National Steel Policy 2017, which has laid down the broad roadmap for encouraging long term growth for the Indian steel industry, both on demand and supply sides, by 2030-31. The Government has also announced a policy for providing preference to domestically manufactured Iron & Steel products in Government procurement. India emerged as a net exporter of total finished steel in 2016-17. Total finished steel export of India was 2016-17 was 8.24 mt, whereas the import volume was 7.23 mt. Rise in the consumption and the usage of steel has been instrumental for the growth of the steel industry. On-going rapid urbanization in India is driving steel-intensive growth in the country. The Indian government is investing heavily in infrastructure and has laid plans to boost domestic steel capacity to 300 MT per annum by 2025. India’s economic growth is contingent upon the growth of the Indian steel industry. While steel continues to have a stronghold in traditional sectors such as construction, housing and ground transportation, special steels are increasingly being used in engineering industries such as power generation, petrochemicals and fertilizers. The liberalization of industrial policy and other initiatives taken by the Government have given a definite impetus for entry, participation and growth of the private sector in the steel industry. While the existing units are being modernized and/or expanded, a large number of new steel plants have also come up in different parts of the country based on modern, cost effective, state of-the-art technologies. It is crucial to ensure steel inclusive growth for the success of ‘Make in India’.

It was an honour to have the presence of Mr. Partha Sengupta, President – Operations, JSW Steel in an exclusive Session as a Special Guest of the Summit. The other guests at the Inaugural Session were Commander B Sengupta, GM, Quality Assurance, Garden Reach Shipbuilding & Engineers Ltd.; Mr. Gulshan Ratan, AGM, Design, Garden Reach Shipbuilding & Engineers Ltd.; Mr Pravesh Narang, Chief Business Excellence and New Projects, Tata Steel Limited and Mr. Sridhar Rao, VP, Danieli India Ltd.; Mr. Sushim Banerjee, Director General, INSDAG and CEO, IISSSC was the Convener of Metals 2018.

Summit has also witnessed the deliberation of eminent speakers like Mr. Ranjit Mathure – Chief Marketing Officer, Essar Steel India Limited; Mr. Manas Mohan Ghosh, AGM (Civil & Structural), INSDAG; Mr. Malay Mandal, Additional General Manager, MSTC Ltd.; Mr. Vibhor Tandon, AVP-BD, MCX India Ltd., Mr. Chittaranjan Rege, Head- Base Metals, MCX India Ltd. Mr. Malay Chatterjee, Former CMD, KIOCL was the Co Convener of Metals Conclave 2018.

The Summit has also witnessed the participation of large audience and eminent industry players and widely covered in different media.