India to spend USD 1.4 trillion over 5 yrs to develop infrastructure: Pradhan

India will spend about USD 1.4 trillion on its infrastructure development in the next five years, Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said on Saturday. Pradhan was speaking at the Global Forum on Excess Capacity (GFEC) Tokyo which was attended by representatives several other countries.

"I wish to emphasize that with rapid economic and infrastructural development in India, the demand for steel has seen a substantial increase and is expected to increase further in the future as embarks to become a USD 5 trillion economy by 2024," he said while addressing the forum. He said that the country is committed to spending about US USD 1.4 trillion on its infrastructure development in the next five years.

All this, Pradhan said, augurs well for the steel demand in the country. India is determined to raise the per capita consumption of steel from its current low of 72 kg per capita to 160 kg per capita by 2030, he informed.

Pradhan is on a two-day visit to Japan. The minister met senior management of Japanese steel majors JFE Steel Corporation, Nippon Steel and Daido Steel on Friday and invited them to invest in the growing Indian steel sector.