Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Steel

03-August-2015 15:22 IST

Ministry of Steel regularly reviews the performance of its public sector undertakings. In these meetings, the issues of Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSE) to be taken up with other Ministries/Departments as also with other State Governments are identified/ flagged and pursued.

Steel is a deregulated sector and the role of the Government is that of a facilitator only and hence Government has no control over the performance of private sector steel industry.

Steel Development Fund (SDF) was constituted vide notification of Ministry of Steel & Mines dated 27^th December 1978, in exercise of Clause 17B of the Iron & Steel Control Order 1956. An element called the Development Surcharge @ ₹ 100.00 per tonne on selected items of steel was fixed on the ex-works price of iron & steel, which the then Main Producers remitted to the fund. However, the SDF levy was abolished w.e.f. 21^st April 1994.

The total annual expenditure borne out of the SDF during the last three years is as under:

Year	Total expenditure borne out of the SDF (Rs. in crore)
2012-13	36.16
2013-14	53.15
2014-15	46.80

M/s Tata Steel Limited has filed a Writ Petition in the Calcutta High Court regarding Steel Development Fund which is sub-juice.

The Minister of State in the Ministry of Steel and Mines Shri Vishnu Deo Sai provided this information in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

Steel Development Fund issues: abolition, reported expenditures and a pending writ petition affecting sector oversight. The Ministry regularly reviews CPSE performance to flag issues for other ministries and states, emphasises that steel is a deregulated sector with Government as facilitator only, and records that the Steel Development Fund-originally funded by a development surcharge-was abolished in 1994; it discloses annual SDF expenditures for three years and notes a pending writ petition challenging the Fund.