New Delhi, April 19 : on Minister for Steel Ram Chandra Prasad Singh on Tuesday directed state-run steel manufacturers to increase their capital expenditure significantly to ensure that the capacity goes up by 80 per cent to 45 MTPA by FY2031. Singh gave this direction to steel companies including Steel Authority of India, NMDC and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam, while reviewing their capex in a meeting held here. Emphasising on the importance of timely capital expenditure, the minister said it is crucial for enhancing steel production capacity, modernizing old plant equipment, and taking up environmentally efficient technologies for the future. “Such expenditure also provides a fillip to the Indian economy,” he added. In FY 2021-22 the capex by steel CPSEs was Rs 10,038 crore, which was an increase of 38 per cent over Rs 7266.70 crore for FY 2020-21. For the current fiscal year, the capital expenditure of state-run steel manufacturers is estimated at Rs 13,156.46 crore for the financial year 2022-23. Singh noted that in order to ensure the capacities these CPSEs go up by about 80 per cent to reach 45 MTPA by 2030-31 from the present level of around 25 MTPA. During the review, deliberations were also held on the CPSEs’ plans under the National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017, as this envisions creating a globally competitive steel industry in India. The NSP 2017 envisages 300 million tonnes (MT) steel-making capacity and a per capita consumption of 158 kgs. “CPSEs should take adequate measure to incorporate the learning’s from the past and current expansion projects in their future plans to ensure adherence to the envisaged capacity expansion,” the minister added. PSK SHK2009