Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel Dharmendra Pradhan today said that the country's steel production has increased from 22 million tonnes in 1990 to nearly 140 million tonnes now.

He was addressing the function organized on Chintan Shivir: Towards a Vibrant, Efficient and Globally Competitive Indian Steel Sector in New Delhi. He said, the country is currently importing only two to three million tonnes of steel.

Mr Pradhan expressed hope that in the next two to three years, India will stand as an exporter for the long term in the steel sector. He said, the LPG consumer base, which was just 13 crore, has now reached 28 crore.

The Minister said, 15 crore new consumers were added for which new LPG cylinders were manufactured and thus benefiting the steel sector.