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Informist, Wednesday, Jul. 8, 2026

NEW DELHI - India's steel makers must adopt better operational practices and newer technologies to make meaningful progress towards decarbonisation, which is a rising challenge for the industry, Steel Authority of India Chairman and Managing Director Ashok Kumar Panda said Wednesday. To combat this issue, companies must use raw materials which pollute less, like steel scrap, Panda said. 

"The very name scrap itself shows that it has no value. But today, it has become invaluable," Panda said while speaking at the Indian Steel Markets Conference. "They have to think more and more about the utilisation of scrap and the recycling of scrap for the economy," he said. "Going forward, scrap will become a raw material."

A move towards decarbonisation assumes importance with more and more nations introducing anti-carbon emission norms like the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Brussels implemented its Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism, or carbon tax, on Jan. 1, which entails duty collection based on reported carbon content in the shipments entering the EU. 

Panda said that India needs to reuse scrap in a better way to meet the leaping demands of the domestic industry as well. 

According to Panda, usage of scrap for steel production will also help India combat with the challenge of high cost of production due to iron ore extracting, mining and importing. "Slowly and slowly, we will find that the raw metal (ore) which was much cheaper component now may become a costlier component going forward," he said. In this context, using scrap for steel producers will help in substantiatially bringing down the cost. 

Panda, however, said that despite India having huge quantity of scrap available domestically, it is scattered and not accumulated in centres where it can be processed on a large scale. Few companies, with the support of the government, have started making progress in setting up plants where scrap could be processed on a large scale, he said. "More remains to be done," he added. End

Reported by Priyasmita Dutta and Astha Oriel

Edited by Akul Nishant Akhoury

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