India’s ministry of steel is working on a framework to bring together local private and government-run steel companies on a common platform enabling them to jointly seek raw materials, technology and export opportunities such as would give the companies greater bargaining leverage in negotiations, a ministry official said on Monday, April 21.
The international comprehensive cooperation framework will be led by the ministry and will help both government and private steel companies in technology transfer, coking coal import deals and export sales on greater competitive terms, secretary of the ministry of steel, Sandeep Poundrik, said in a statement.
The move will ensure that companies do not approach global deals in isolation as group of Indian companies can clinch better deals, Poundrik said.
The ministry will sign agreements with each steel company and they will together go to other countries to source based on the four pillars of raw materials, investments, technology and exports, he said.
He pointed out that India is the largest importer of manganese ore, shipping in 8 million mt per year and also imports about 85 percent of the 70 million mt of coking coal consumed by domestic steel mills.
Poundrik said that Indian steel companies will jointly seek technology collaborations from Germany, Italy and Japan, while jointly boosting exports to the Middle East.