The Consultative Committee meeting for the Ministry of Steel was convened today to discuss the progress on the first-of-its kind novel initiative by the Ministry of Steel and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to introduce branding and labelling of ‘Made-in-India’ steel products in the global market. Apart from making Indian steel products more attractive to buyers, this would also ensure standardized quality of goods.
Chaired by Union Minister of Steel Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, the meeting was graced by Minister of State for Steel, Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Shri Faggan Singh Kulaste, Members of Parliament, Shri Janardan Singh Sigriwal and Shri Akhilesh Prasad Singh, as well as officers from Ministry of Steel and its steel PSUs.
The meeting commenced with a formal presentation to MPs by Shri Jyotiraditya M. Scindia, who highlighted the significance of branding in promoting the Indian steel industry and realizing the Prime Minister’s ‘Make in India’ brand vision. He also emphasised on the efforts to build India as a “manufacturing center” of the world, which requires a unified and distinctive identity for Indian steel that reflects its quality, innovation, and sustainability practices.
Under the guidance of Sh. Scindia, the Ministry of Steel initiated collaborative efforts in September 2022, engaging with key stakeholders including the steel industry, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), and the Quality Council of India (QCI) to provide a definitive direction to the branding of Indian steel products. Made in India branding provides for labeling of domestic steel products with details of the product, and a Made in India Logo along with a QR Code.
It is important to note that it is the first ever initiative by any ministry to introduce labeling and branding of the sector’s products. He mentioned that the Ministry of Steel is the first ministry to come up with such a branding exercise, where a single brand identity for Indian-made steel will represent India’s strong manufacturing potential.
Union Minister, while highlighting this as a significant step forward, said that Made in India Branding has been rolled out for select products of all major ISPs. ISPs – QCI portal Application Programming Interface (API) integration has also been completed for Label and QR code authentication. The rollout will be extended to include more products, as well as those by the SSIs (Secondary Steel Industries) in the next phase.
The Minister informed that National Institute of Design (NID), Ahmedabad has been engaged to design the labels.
Current Status
The Minister briefed on the current status of the exercise:
All ISPs, and 65% of India’s steel products have been on-boarded with common labels finalized for all the product categories.
Size and space for the Made in India logo has been allocated for each label. Made in India text will be used till the logo is finalized by DPIIT.
The process of system integration was successfully tested and completed by all the ISPs at the end of October. All the ISPs have started the roll out with 2-4 categories of steel products in their product portfolio by fixing a new ‘Made in India’ label on their products.
A formal launch of the ‘Made in India’ branding of Steel products is being planned soon.
Way Forward
This strategic plan will unfold in two phases:
Phase-I – ISPs will progressively increase product range with the Made in India label. This phase is expected to be completed by March 2024.
Phase-II – Made in India Branding will be extended to the Specialised Steel Plants (SSPs).
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