3.3.1. Iron & Steel Industry

The development of the iron and steel industry opened the doors to rapid industrial development in India. Almost all sectors of the Indian industry depend heavily on the iron and steel industry for their basic infrastructure. The other raw materials besides iron ore and coking coal, essential for iron and steel industry are limestone, dolomite, manganese and fire clay. All these raw materials are gross (weight losing), therefore, the best location for the iron and steel plants is near the source of raw materials.

In India, there is a crescent shaped region comprising parts of Chhattisgarh, Northern Odisha, Jharkhand and western West Bengal, which is extremely rich in high grade iron ore, good quality coking coal and other supplementing raw materials. India has 11 integrated steel plants, 150 mini steel plants and a large number of rolling, re-rolling mills and foundries. Except TISCO now Tata Steels Ltd., all the big steel plants are managed by SAIL. The list of integrated iron and steel plants is-

1. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (Vishakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh)

2. Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. (Raigarh, Chhattisgarh)

3. Bhilai Steel Plant (Bhilai, Chhattisgarh)

4. Boakro Steel Plant (Bokaro, Jharkhand)

5. Tata Steels Ltd. (Jamshedpur, Jharkhand)

6. JSW Steel Ltd. (Bellary, Karnataka)

7. Tata Sponge Iron Limited (Keonjhar, Odisha)

8. Rourkela Steel Plant (Rourkela, Odisha)

9. Salem Steel Plant (Salem, Tamil Nadu)

10. Durgapur Steel Plant (Durgapur, West Bengal)

11. Indian Iron & Steel Company Ltd. (Burnpur, West Bengal) Details of some of the important iron and steel plant are as follows:

Tata Steel Ltd.: It is the oldest and the largest integrated iron and steel plant in India located at Jamshedpur in Jharkhand. TSL is most ideally located in respect to iron are, coking coal and flux supplies. The plant started producing pig iron in 1908 and steel in 1911. This plant enjoys the following advantages:

(1) Iron ore is obtained from the Noamundi mines of Singhbhum district in Jharkhand and the Guruma-hisani mines in Mayurbhanj district of Orissa. (2) Joda mines of Keonjhar(Kendujhar) district of Orissa supply manganese. (3) Dolomite, limestone and fire clay are obtained from Sundargarh district of Orissa. (4) Large requirement of water for cooling purposes is met from the Subernarekha and Kharkai rivers. (5) Labour: Labour is available locally from the Santhal tribe and from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. (6) Coal: It is available from the mines of Jharia and West Bokaro (Jharkhand).

Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO): The three steel plants at Kulti, Burnpur and Hirapur are located near Asansol in West Bengal. They have merged together to form the Indian Iron and Steel

Company (IISCO). Pig iron is produced at Hirapur plant and sent to Kulti for making steel. The rolling mills are in Burnpur. The IISCO plants have the following geographical advantages: (1) Iron ore is brought from Singhbhum (Jharkhand) and Mayurbhanj (Orissa). (2) Coking coal is available from Jharia and cheap electricity from the Damodar Valley Corporation. (3) Manganese is supplied by Jharkhand, Bihar, Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. (4) Dolomite and limestone are obtained from Sundargarh (Orissa) (5) Cheap labour is ready available from the adjoining thickly populated states. (6)Water is readily available from the Damodar river.

Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel ltd. (VISL): It was established as Mysore Iron and Steel Works in 1923 by the princely state of Mysore. It is located at Bhadravati. This plant is one of the major producers of alloy and special steel in the country.(1) High grade iron ore is available from Chikmaglur district; (2) Manganese is available from Shimoga and Ghitradurga; (3) it uses hydroelectric power from Sharavali project.

Hindustan Steel Ltd (HSL)-Bhilai: The Bhilai Steel plant is located in the Durg district of Chhattisgarh and was built with the Russian collaboration. Bhilai steel plant has the following geographical advantages; (1) Rich iron ore is available from Dalli-Rajhara mines; (2) Coal is obtained from Korba and Kargali fields in Madhya Pradesh. (3) Limestone from Nandini mines

(4) Manganese is obtained from Bhandara (Maharashtra) and Ballaghat (Madhya Pradesh) mines (5) Dolomite comes from Bilaspur.