The Steel Ministry is finalising a policy that prescribes domestic steel manufacturers to step up their investment on research and development to 2 per cent of the turnover by 2020. The Ministry in an official release said, the policy aims at increasing the R&D investments in India from the current levels of 0.15 – 0.3 per cent of the turnover to one per cent by the year 2015-16 and two per cent by the year 2020.

The policy will also lay emphasis on development of alternative iron-making technologies and adoption of new technologies. It said, the policy will also aim at providing incentives to encourage setting-up of iron ore beneficiation and coal cleaning facilities. Besides, it will also focus on strengthening in-house R&D set-ups of steel companies and development of indigenous capabilities for manufacturing.