Indian Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari warned Prime Minister Narendra Modi that a 55% increase in steel prices over the past six months has rendered many strategic projects in the automotive industry unviable.
“Steel prices have risen 55% over the past six months. I wrote to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Steel to make a decision, ”Gadkari said, recalling before that he demanded that cement producers stop unreasonable price increases.
“Steel and cement producers need a long-term policy ... a uniform policy,” he said and added that if the price increase were within 15-20%, it could be justified, but it would still be “terrible high ".
“They can improve productivity and profit. Otherwise, projects will become unviable, ”he said, explaining that steel and cement usually account for 40% of the cost of a project.
According to him, today, 2,478 projects are under the jurisdiction of the Indian Ministry of Motor Transport, including the production of electric vehicles and infrastructure projects of national importance, which, due to high prices for cement, were forced to start purchasing bitumen in Malaysia and Singapore.
“This attitude of players is not good for infrastructure and real estate,” Gadkari said.
