India main producer of ferrous metal, says Frost & Sullivan

India is the primary producer of ferrous metals in the market, says Frost & Sulivan which is oligopolistic and dominated by two large integrated producers ?the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) in the public sector and Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) in the private sector. Growth drivers seen in the metal sector are government policies, consolidation, favourable conditions and growing demand and consumption. Under government policies, it is been noted that up to 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is allowed under the automatic route for mining of metal ores in India. FDI policies have made global leaders like ArcelorMittal and POSCO evince interest in setting up plants in India. Moreover, thrust on infrastructure by the Government of India (GoI) is expected to boost steel demand and the government has earmarked 46% of total plan allocations in the Union Budget (2010-11) towards infrastructure development. According to Vinod Shankar, Consultant, Manufacturing & Process Consulting Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East, "The Indian subcontinent, along with other parts of Asia, is rich in enormous reserves of metals and minerals such as iron ore, and bauxite. This, along with its close geographical proximity to the Middle East, makes Asia one of the most favoured destinations for metal producers." India's per capita consumption of steel is around 48Kg, while that of aluminium and copper is around 0.8Kg and 0.4Kg, respectively. However, per capita consumption of key metals has been increasing with the booming economy. In addition, low penetration of key metals clearly indicates high growth potential and an opportunity for investors to exploit the untapped market. The challenges faced by this sector are remote locations of mineral deposits, protectionist tendencies by other economies, rising cost of raw materials, highly unorganised metal producers sector, adoption of latest technologies still in nascent stages, lack of adoption of scientific mining techniques and inadequate availability and poor quality of coking coal. To overcome the challenge of poor quality of coking coal, industries are importing high-cost coking coal from Australian and Indonesian coalfields. Despite large-scale imports, demand for coal has continuously outstripped supply.Air Jordan