Centre Launches New Schemes To Speed Up R&D In Steel Sector

The Steel Research Technology Mission of India (SRTMI), a joint initiative of the Indian steel industry and academia supported by the Ministry of Steel, launched three new R&D schemes and a web portal during an event “Catalyzing R&D in the Indian Steel Sector” at Vigyan Bhawan.

The event saw the participation of major steel companies including SAIL, the country’s top academic institutions like IIT Kanpur, IIT Bombay, IIT Kharagpur, IIT Delhi, IIT Madras and ISM Dhanbad and research startups. International entities such as the Swedish Energy Agency and ADB also took part in the event.

Minister of State for Steel & Heavy Industries Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma launched the R&D schemes and the SRTMI web portal, emphasising their role in driving innovation and sustainability in the steel sector.

The minister said that the new R&D initiatives and SteelCollab will play a critical role as India moves towards a 300 million tonnes steel capacity by 2030. He highlighted the need to accelerate technology commercialization and indigenize capital goods manufacturing. He also noted that the SRTMI web portal will foster engagement, idea exchange, and industry-wide collaboration. The three schemes launched by SRTMI include challenge method – identifying and solving critical industry-wide challenges of national interest, open innovation method – supporting open research proposals from academia and researchers in collaboration with industry and start-up accelerator – supporting early-stage startups to develop cutting-edge steel technologies.