Iron and Steel Industries

Iron And Steel Production In India

India is the second-largest producer of crude steel as per the records in the year 2021. The output recorded was 9.8MT. As per the records of the financial year 2021, the production of crude steel was 102.49 MT whereas the production of finished steel recorded was 94.66 MT respectively. 

The data reveals that there is enough production of steel and iron in the country. Due to the presence of enormous manpower available at a lower price and a large number of iron ores available in the country, it has grown to a large-scale exporter of iron and steel.

Iron Production In India

Iron finds its usage in our daily life. Iron is used in utensils, heavy machinery, etc. Due to the large presence of ores in the country, India produces Iron magnanimously. As iron is not available in its purest form, it is extracted from various ores. The ones that are common for the extraction of Iron are:

1. Magnetite

Magnetite is known as the best quality of iron ore as it contains 72% iron. as the name suggests it is magnetic and is commonly found in the Indian States like Jharkhand, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.

2. Haematite

Haematite is the second most popular iron ore as it has 62 % pure iron in it. Haematite can be easily found in the states of Jharkhand, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Orissa, and Andhra Pradesh.

3. Limonite

As the name suggests limonite is yellow or light brown. The name is after a lemon. It has 40% pure iron present in it.

4. Siderite

Siderite is an iron ore that has about 40 to 50 % of pure iron present in it along with several impurities. As there is a percentage of lime found in it, it is known to be self-fluxing and has a very low amount of iron present in it.

Distribution And Production Of Iron In India

India reports total reserves of iron ore in million tons. At present, the haematite ore is present in 12,317.3 million tons and magnetite ore in situ production is 5395.2 million tons. As the resources are present in mainly many states of the country still there is a restricted site for the best resources of high-grade ore. The best iron ore is mainly present in the Baila Dila region of Chhattisgarh; Karnataka in the Bellary-Hospet region and some parts of Jharkhand and Orissa.

Chief Iron Producing States In The Country

Though iron ore is present in abundance in many states of the country, there are few states that have the highest reserves of iron owing to large mass production. The chief 6 states producing the highest number of irons are:

1. Jharkhand
2. Orissa
3. Karnataka
4. Madhya Pradesh
5. Goa
6. Chhattisgarh

These 6 states make up about 95% of the total iron production in the country.

Jharkhand is the largest iron-producing state of India as it produces about 25 percent of the total iron in India. After Jharkhand, Orissa is the second-largest producing state with the production of (21%) iron, followed by Karnataka accounting for 20%, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh jointly accounting for (18%) and Goa accounting for 11%. The remaining 5 percent of the production comes from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Assam. 

The top 5 Iron Producing Companies Of India Are:

1. Steel Authority of India (SAIL)
2. Tata Steel Limited
3. Jindal Steel Limited
4. Essar Steel Limited
5. Bhushan Steel Limited.

Steel Production In India

India ranks as the second-largest producer of steel. No Indian household is complete without steel utensils. Steel is widely used in the automotive industry, in heavy machinery pieces of equipment, in households, and other miscellaneous products.

As steel is an alloy of iron, it is not found in pure forms. Just like the extraction of the iron is carried out using different ores, steel is also made using two different types of processes mainly. The two types of steelmaking processes are:

• Basic Ore Furnace

• Electric Arc Furnace

Basic Ore Furnace:

In the basic oxygen furnace process of extraction, iron is mixed with various amounts of steel scrap mainly less than 30%. After this step, highly pure oxygen is being blown into the furnace vessel. This causes a rise in temperature and it rises to approx. 1700 degrees Celsius. As the scrap melts, the impurities get oxidized and there is a reduction by 90%, in the carbon content resulting in the formation of liquid steel.

Electric Arc Furnaces (EAF) 

Electric Arc Furnace does not involve iron in it. It only reuses the old steel scrap and this cuts down the need for raw material. The furnace is c. The electric arc furnace operates on an electric charge.

This method does not require any raw material such as coke but depends mainly on the electricity generated by the coal plant.

Major Steel Producing States of India

The major steel-producing states of India are:

1. Jharkhand
2. Madhya Pradesh
3. Andhra Pradesh
4. Rajasthan
5. Goa

Top 5 steel producing companies of India

Iron and steel industries have witnessed a larger growth in recent years due to their expansion and utility in the global market. The top 5 steel producing companies in India are:

1. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited
2. Steel Authority of India
3. Tata Steel
4. Jindal Steel and Power
5. Bhilai Steels

Conclusion:

The iron and steel industries are present all along with the states of the country. Many known names like Tata Steels, Jindal Steels, etc. have established their name well across the globe due to the fine and superior quality of the iron and steel products.