Tackle Demand-Supply Mismatch In Steel THE reported government proposal to enforce a price band for steel producers is myopic and based on fundamentally flawed logic. The idea that clamping down on steel prices by fiat would soften the underlying price trend is wholly questionable. The fact is that it is the sustained and buoyant demand that is putting pressure on steel prices. The way ahead is to boost output and incentivise the setting up of new capacity, so as to better align supply with demand. Specifically, what is required is proactive policy to streamline the panoply of clearances required for greenfield capacity addition. Fast-forwarding long-pending investment proposals in steel would clearly pay rich dividends. But the talk of price band and attendant controls does suggest that the Centre is bent on merely treating the sectoral symptoms with populist measures, rather than addressing the substantive disjoint that exists between supply and demand. The plan for administered prices in steel would be atavistic and plain anti-reform. For decades, a surfeit of controls did thoroughly stultify domestic steel production, and we have had the dubious distinction of producing the world's steepest priced