The Union Budget 2016 will give a great boost to the ailing steel industry, as the Finance Minister has made a substantial allocation of ?1.8 lakh crores in the plan outlay for rail/road projects, according to Visakhapatnam steel plant (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd) Chairman and Managing Director P Madhusudan. He said the RINL was producing long products used in construction activity and it would suit the company well. However, he said, the doubling of clean energy cess on coal from ?200 per tonne to ?400 tonne would have considerable impact on the cost of production, as coal is one of the major raw material in the process of steel-making. He said the phasing out of exemptions on scientific R&D would also have adverse impact as the steel industry depends on R&D heavily. On the whole, he said, it was a good Budget with a rural-orientation.

Source : thehindubusinessline.com