“Refractory industry is fragmented and we see scope for consolidation.”

Dalmia-OCL, the refractory business of Dalmia Bharat Group, offers end-to-end refractory products and solutions to customers in more than 40 countries. A leading player in several mission-critical refractory product categories for steel and cement sector with 7 manufacturing plants (5 in India, 1 in Germany and 1 in China), the company has recently been investing in technologies and capacities to serve the increasing need from high-quality steel makers. Sameer Nagpal, CEO, Dalmia OCL, spoke to Steel Insights on the current challenges and opportunities being faced by the sector

In a post Covid-19 world, there would a greater call for the Indian steel industry to become self-reliant and produce increasing amount of high quality steel to reduce import dependence. How Dalmia OCL, focusing on high standard refractories, rise to this challenge?

To deal with the slump in demand for steel in the post Covid-19 world, the government must work to fast track investments in the infrastructure sector. This can be done by front-loading the investment in National Infrastructure Pipeline and by letting the construction industry operate with precautionary measures as per the guidelines laid down by the government. As the lockdown 3.0 starts, this fast tracking of operations of all steel-consuming industries is absolutely indispensable in the current scenario.

In order to reduce the import dependency and cut down on production costs, the refractory and steel sectors in India need to work in complete synergy. Selfreliance in terms of refractory capability is key to steel ministry’s target of 300 million tons by 2030. Towards this, Dalmia OCL is continuously investing in its operations to strengthen its Make-in-India capability.

Industry body FICCI has also recommended to include the entire supply chain of the sector - integrated steel producers, secondary steel makers, loha mandis etc - amongst essential services and allow them to operate in line with directives issued by the Government. It also recommended an extension of moratorium granted on payment of interest and repayment of loans for another three months and interest-free financing/at nominal rates for MSMEs to revive.