Day 1

The ‘Minerals and Mining’ & ‘Metals’ Committees of the Bengal Chamber led by Mr. P. S. Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Minerals & Mining Committee, BCC&I and Former Chairman, Coal India; Mr. Rana Som, Co Chairman, Minerals & Mining Committee, BCC&I and Former CMD, NMDC; Mr. P. K. Mukherjee, Co Chairman, Minerals & Mining Committee, BCC&I, and Former MD, Sesa Goa Limited; Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Chairperson, Metals Committee and Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Limited, Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Mentor, Metals Committee, BCC&I and Vice President − Technology and New Materials Business, Tata Steel Limited jointly organized the annual flagship “Minerals, Mining and Metals e−Conclave” on 9−10 December 2021 on an exclusive online platform.

The theme of the e-Conclave was "Indian Minerals, Mining and Metals sectors: What Lies Beneath, What Lies Ahead". While the Day 1 of the E−Conclave extensively focused on the ‘Indian Coal Industry−The Crisis’, ‘The Solution and the Preparedness for the Future’, ‘India’s 2070 Net−Zero Pledge: What it implies for the future of Coal Industry in the country’, ‘Coal Gasification: The Game Changing Factor in Green Energy’ and ‘India’s Energy Grid of the Future’;  the Day 2 of the E− Conclave focussed on ‘Indian Mining Sector, Indian Steel Industry: Rewriting the growth story of India’, ‘Can the Indian Steel Industry Capitalize on the current upsurge in the steel markets’, ‘Future Outlook of Steel Raw Materials and Ocean Freight’, ‘Challenges in De−Carbonization of Indian Steel Industry’ and ‘Non Ferrous: Challenges and Opportunities’.

The Opening Session on Day 1 was addressed by Mr. P. S. Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Minerals & Mining Committee, BCC&I and Former Chairman, Coal India. The Chief Guest was Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India and Shri Sutirtha Bhattacharya, Former Chairman, Coal India and Chairperson, WBERC was the Guest of Honour. Mr. Abraham Stephanos, President, BCC&I and Managing Director, Tata Steel Downstream Products Limited delivered the Welcome Address on both the days. Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Chairperson, Metals Committee and Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Limited delivered the Vote of Thanks and the Concluding remarks.

In his inaugural address, Dr. Anil Kumar Jain, IAS, Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India mentioned that the current round of commercial coal block auctions has drawn a good response. The current round has got two or more bids for the 18 mines. Some were legacy mines but the addition of some more new mines created interest. This is being seen as a positive turn since the previous round didn’t get much response as the first tranche of auctions did. He said that in the future rounds when the Ministry comes up with more new explored mines, the response is expected to be even better. Dr. Jain further stated that the Centre would bring the coal sector under the national monetisation pipeline aggressively even as it has relaxed norms forbidding coal blocks, wanting them to handover over to the qualified bidders, risk−free. He said that the government is looking at monetising the first−mile connectivity (FMC) projects and the railway projects, which Coal India Ltd. is developing solely or through JVs. Dr. Jain also said that COP26 brings some uncertainty particularly to developing countries. He said the government is working on a road map to achieve net zero carbon emission. This will give a greater clarity on how the 2070 target will affect various sectors. He announced that coal gasification revenue sharing has been raised at 50% from earlier 20%.

A Fireside Chat was organised with Mr. Pramod Agrawal, IAS, CMD, Coal India on “Indian Coal Industry: The Crisis, The Solution and the Preparedness for the Future” hosted by Mr.

1. S. Bhattacharyya, Chairman, Minerals & Mining Committee, BCC&I and Former Chairman, Coal India. During the conversation Mr. Agrawal said that he does not foresee any shortage of dry fuel for power producers till March 2022 as Coal India is focusing on ramping up production to secure a stock of about 70 million tonne by end of the current fiscal. Around 100 million tonne of pithead stock, which was carried forward from the last fiscal, was "not desired" but it helped CIL meet requirements when coal demand went up a few months ago. He said the last quarter saw "high" output, and issues related to the production of Central Coalfields Ltd and Bharat Coking Coal Ltd are also getting resolved.

Mr. Agrawal also observed that the shortage of coal at thermal plants, which had triggered fear of massive power outages recently, could once again pose a problem if Coal India Ltd does not ramp up its production. There may be some problem in July−August 2022 if production is not increased. He said that there were many factors which compounded the problem− Covid, extended rainfall, lower stock at power houses and increasing prices of international coal. If all these factors again affect then there could be a problem but the probability looks low. The way CIL is increasing production and despatches Mr. Agrawal felt that at power houses the stock will be higher than 40 mt so there will be a cushion. He was also optimistic about resolving issues pertaining to land for Rajmahal mine of Eastern Coalfields with the Jharkhand government at the earliest. CIL is also exploring opportunities in solar power and mining other resources like bauxite mining in Odisha.

There was a Special Plenary Session with Guest of Honour, Mr. Naveen Jindal, Chairman, Jindal Steel and Power Ltd. on “Indian Mining Sector : At the Crossroads”. In his Keynote Address, Mr. Jindal observed that aggressive participation for far fewer blocks pushes up mineral prices and erodes the country’s competitiveness internationally. He said that the country has too many entrepreneurs and there is too much competition for every block. The government also sometimes, creates an artificial scarcity by only leaving a few blocks of iron ore or coal. He insisted that the government must ensure that there are enough blocks for everyone as it charges a high royalty on all minerals. Mr. Jindal also said that the State governments have a larger role to play and should create an enabling environment as they stand to be the biggest beneficiary with the highest revenue.

With the opening up of commercial coal mining, Mr. Jindal was confident that there’s no need for India, which imports around1.5−lakh crore worth of coal every year, to continue that, except for some coking coal. Mr. Jindal said that the sector is already contributing to 1.5 per cent of the GDP, and this can be doubled. However, there are a few challenges, especially when it comes to land acquisition, rehabilitation of people, and getting clearances. On the clearances, Mr. Jindal said that there should be a single window mechanism for getting all the clearances.

Other important dignitaries to address the E−Conclave on Day 1 were Mr. N C Jha, Managing Partner, Prolific Coal Consortium, and Former CMD, Coal India Ltd., Mr. Rakesh Kumar, Chairman & MD, NLC India Ltd., Mr. V R Sharma, MD, JSPL, Mr. BinayDayal, Director− Technical, Coal India Ltd, Mr. Dilip Kumar Mohanty, Director Production, NMDC Ltd, Mr. Biswadip Gupta, President− Corporate Affairs (East), JSW Steel Ltd. & Former President, BCC&I, Ltd, Mr. Sunil Chaturvedi, Chairman & MD, Gainwell CommosalesPvt. Ltd., Mr. B Prabhakaran, MD, Thriveni Earth MoversPvt. And Mr. Deepak Mahurkar, Partner, PwC.

In the background of India’s Net Zero pledge at COP26, an ‘Experts Roundtable' was held on the topic − “India’s Energy Grid of the Future: How Solid Fuels, Gasification, Carbon Capture, and Distribution Hubs will form the Building Blocks of the Net Zero Energy Landscape in India”. The session was moderated by Mr. Abhijit Sarkar, Vice President, Dastur Energy. The panel keynote address was delivered by Shri M Nagaraju, IAS, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Coal, Government of India. The session was addressed by Mr. Phil Amick, Founder, Hard Carbon Technologies, Houston, TX, USA, Mr. Ben Owens, Vice President and General Manager, Honeywell PMT, USA, Dr. Kenneth B. Medlock III, the James and Susan G. Baker Fellow in Energy and Resource Economics at the Baker Institute and the Senior Director, Center for Energy Studies at Rice University, TX, USA, Ms. KristjanaKristjánsdóttir, Director of Projects, Carbon Recycling International (CRI), Iceland and Dr.Vikram Vishal, Associate Professor Department of Earth Sciences, IIT Bombay.

Day 2

As of September 2021, India was the world’s second−largest producer of crude steel, with an output of 9.5 MT. In FY21, the production of crude steel and finished steel stood a 102.49 MT and 94.66 MT, respectively. In FY22, crude steel production in India is estimated to increase by 18%, to reach 120 million tons, driven by rising demand from customers. According to the data released by Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), between April 2000 and June 2021, Indian metallurgical industries attracted FDI inflows of US$

16.0 billion. In FY22, demand for steel is expected to increase by 17% to 110 million tons, driven by rising construction activities. The National Steel Policy, 2017 envisage 300 million tons of production capacity by 2030−31. The government has a fixed objective of increasing rural consumption of steel from the current 19.6 kg/per capita to 38 kg/per capita by 2030− 31.

At this juncture where the Indian Steel Industry has a bright future and is on a rising curve, the world pledges for Zero Carbon emmissions. At present, 7% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions come from the steel sector. The risk is particularly applicable to India. Global steel production hovers between 1.6−1.8 billion tonnes right now and half of this capacity is in China. The country, however, is cutting its steel output as it tries to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. Not only are steel plants getting lower production targets, the country is also, moving away from primary production − smelting iron from ore, etc. − towards a bigger focus on making steel from scrap − secondary or recycled steel.

On this background, The Bengal Chamber of Commerce and industry organised the Minerals, Mining and Metals e−Conclave keeping the theme as “Indian Steel Industry: Rewriting the growth story of India”, of Day 2 of the programme.

The Inaugural Session of Day 2 of the Conclave witnessed the participation of Shri Sajjan Jindal, Chairman & MD, JSW Steel Ltd. who delivered the Keynote address as the Guest of Honour. According to Mr. Jindal, countries have realized that in order to rebuild their economy they have to invest significantly in infrastructure. He said, “while over a trillion US dollar is set aside for India’s infrastructure budget, I am confident that India’s path to being recognized as global power house is paved in Steel. I also see a strong new role of India as the factory of the world as the world peruses alternatives to China as its global factory. We are the front runners in replacing this East Asian giant given our skilled manpower and abundant natural resources and access to quality raw material. This new role for the country in the global supply chain would not only push the required industrialization but also accelerate economic growth for our country.

While speaking about India’s pledge at COP 26, he said that JSW is actively developing plans to adopt processes to meet carbon neutral goal.

The steel industry has a crucial role to play in achieving this target. While the steel industry accounts for 0.7 percent of the world’s economic output, the industry contributes to 7 percent towards global emission. This needs to change and change fast. Curtailing carbon emission will require major upgradation at the steel mills and the initiative has to be taken at the industry and the policy level. He advocated substituting Hydrogen for Carbon as a reducing agent and using renewable electrical energy for all the requirement in the steel plant. While the transition period will involve high initial capital cost and OPEX cost, proactive government support through well designed policy will ensure that the industry is not discouraged from making this transition.

Day 2 of the Conclave also hosted a chat session with Ms. Soma Mondal, Chairman, SAIL. Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Chairperson, Metals Committee and Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Limited, during his conversation with Ms. Soma Mondal, Chairman, SAIL focused on “Steel Sector’s Bull Run: How long will the steam last”. Ms. Mondal during the conversation said that Steel is on a demand drive. Domestic demand of steel remains intact and there has been a push from the Central Govt. towards improved spending on Infrastructure & Construction. Schemes like Saga Mala, Bharat Mala, dedicated Freight Corridor, Express ways, Highways, Airports, Bullet Trains, investment in Defense Corridor, and growth in Real Estate has kept the domestic steel consumption intact. Automobiles, Packaging, Pipes & Tubes also hold a good promise. India continues to be an exporter of steel and the domestic consumption has almost attained the pre−covid levels. China cutting down on steel production gives India an advantage of export of steel where India is in direct competition with China like the middle east and the South East Asia. But this will also have an adverse effect on the price of raw materials as the demand of raw material like iron ore and coal will go down.

In context of India’s commitment in COP 26, Ms. Mondal mentioned that it is not a burden but a responsibility for the steel industry. Moreover, the industry’s de−carbonization should happen not only because of its pledge in COP 26 but due to its own technological development and the need to remain globally competitive, as the developed nations would impose carbon penalties & carbon prices; for example, proposed carbon tax by EU. However, technologies of de− carbonisation are still at experimental stages and the production cost can be assessed only when viable technologies are stabilized.

Other Speakers of the Day are:

Mr. Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD & Group CFO, JSW Steel Ltd

Mr. Alain Legrix de La Salle, , Director−Sales & Marketing, CMO, ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India

Mr. Tuhin Kumar Mukherjee, Managing Director, Essel Mining & Industries Limited and Sector Head, Mineral Resources Development, Aditya Birla Group. and Member, Minerals and Mining Committee, BCC&I

Mr. Ranjan Sinha, Director− Raw Materials Procurement & Chief Group Shipping, Tata Steel Ltd.

Mr. Yiming Zeng, Senior Editor−Iron ore, S&P Global Platts Mr. Ashok Kumar, Chief Technical Advisor, Tata Steel, UK

Ms. AnveshaThakker, Global Co−Head: Climate Change & Decarbonization, KPMG IMPACT and Partner: KPMG India and Industry Lead: Renewable Energy

Mr. Sphatik Bhattacharyya, Process Expert, Tata Consulting Engineers Ltd.

Dr. P K Banerjee, Chief Technology Officer, Hindalco Mr. Sanjay Panjiyar, Director− Operations, with additional charge of Director Mining, HCL

The Sessions were moderated by:

Mr. Rana Som, Co Chairman, Minerals & Mining Committee, BCC&I and Former CMD, NMDC

Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Chairperson, Metals Committee and Managing Director, Tata Metaliks Limited

Mr. P K Mukherjee, Co Chairman, Minerals & Mining Committee, BCC&I, and Former MD, Sesa Goa Limited Dr. Debashish Bhattacharjee, Mentor, Metals Committee, BCC&I and Vice President − Technology and New Materials Business, Tata Steel Limited, and,

Mr. Anubhav Jain, MD & Partner, Boston Consulting Group Dr. Ranjit Rath, CMD, MECL

The Conclave also witnessed an overwhelming participation from Minerals, Mining, Metals and its allied industry. The programme has received above four lakh viewers and widespread media coverage both in national newspapers and online portals. The participants varied from mining companies, steel products & steel alloys producing companies, Engineering Industry, Mining Equipment & Machinery producing companies, Sponge Iron Manufacturers, Mineral Trading Companies, Institutes with Department of Geology, Geo− Spatial companies, Consultants and also Engineers. The participation included big corporate as well as small & medium companies to individuals like faculties, Engineers, Designers & consultants.