Iron Ores and Cotton Bales
Posted : June 28, 2006 at 9:52 pm [IST]
Rising figures of billions of Indian exports excite me. It must be providing a pride to other countrymen too. However, when I find a report claiming India as the largest exporters of iron ores or raw cotton bales produced by our farmers, I feel really bad and almost shortchanged. India must build capacity of steel making, consume or export. On one hand, Lakshmi Mittal, the steel giant alone produces about some 70 million tones of steel, perhaps very soon the figure will reach 100 million tones. Why can’t India with Tata Steel as the cheapest producer of steel be in the first two or three steel producing countries? If you go on adding the figures of the capacities promised in the MOUs of Orissa, Jharkhand, and Chattishgarh that were signed in last one year including those of POSCO, Mittal, and Tatas, India will become soon the second largest manufacturer of steel in the world. But with all sorts of holdups including the politically sponsored protests and violence in acquisitioning the land, one doubt if that will be materialized. Why should India take pride in being named the largest exporter of iron ores?
In the same manner, the export of raw cotton shows our incapability in producing the finished textiles that have huge export market and where many developing countries including China, Thailand, and even Pakistan and Bangladesh are doing extremely better.
India must come in the top two countries globally for both steel and textiles. Government policies and the countries entrepreneurial skills are at test. Will the national Manufacturing Competitiveness Council initiate actions that can take India to the top?
PS Hoda for export duty on high grade iron ore
- Indra
Category: Manufacturing |
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