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Industry Overview

Global Scenario

  • In 2024, the world crude steel production reached 1,884.6 million tonnes (MT) as per provisional data released by World Steel Association. World Steel Association in its Short-Range Outlook, October 2024 forecasts that steel demand will grow by 1.2% year-on-year in 2025 and reach 1,771.5 MT after contracting 0.9% y-o-y in 2024 to 1750.9 MT. The World Steel Association has postponed the release of April 2025 Short-Range Outlook.

  • India is the second largest producer of crude steel. China was world’s largest crude steel producer in 2024 (1,005.1MT) followed by India (149.4 MT), Japan (84.0 MT) and the USA (79.5 MT).

  • Per capita finished steel consumption in 2024 was 214.7 kg for world and 601.1 kg for China as per provisional data released by World Steel Association. The same for India was 108 kg in 2024-25.

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Domestic Scenario

  • Steel is a de-regulated sector. The Government’s role is that of a facilitator which lays down the policy guidelines and establishes the institutional mechanism/structure for creating conducive environment for improving efficiency and performance of the steel sector.
  • In this role, the Government has released the National Steel Policy 2017, which has laid down the broad roadmap for encouraging long term growth for the Indian steel industry, both on demand and supply sides, by 2030-31.
  • Government of India is implementing a Production-linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Specialty Steel. It is expected that the specialty steel production will reach 42 MT by the end of 2026-27.
  • India’s crude steel capacity was 200.3 mt in 2024-25.
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Market Size

  • In the past 10-12 years, India’s steel sector has expanded significantly. Production has increased by 75% since 2008, while domestic steel demand has increased by almost 80%. The capacity for producing steel has grown concurrently, and the rise has been largely organic.
  • In FY26 (April-July 2025), the consumption of finished steel stood at 51.45 MT.
  • In FY25, the consumption of finished steel stood at 150.23 MT.
  • In FY26 (April-July 2025), finished steel production stood at 51.46 MT.
  • In FY26 (April-July 2025), crude steel production in India stood at 54.19 MT.
  • Share of Secondary steel plants including MSMEs in crude steel capacity in FY25 stood at 47%.
  • India’s steel production capacity increased to 200.33 MT in FY25, and the figure is anticipated to rise to 300 MT by FY30.
  • As of April 2025, India has huge iron ore reserves and can produce 700 MT per year and has the potential to be the second largest producer of iron ore globally.
  • In FY26 (April-July 2025), the exports and imports of steel stood at 1.7 MT and 1.67 MT, respectively.
  • In FY25, the exports and imports of steel stood at 4.85 MT and 9.53 MT, respectively.
  • Top five exported products in FY26 (April-July 2025) were: GP/GC Sheets/Coil, HR Coil/Strip, Pipes, Bars & Rods, CR Coil/Sheets.
finished steel export and import oct25

Government Initiatives

Some of the other recent Government initiatives in this sector are as follows:

  • Indian government plans to reduce imports by 50% in FY26 to become net exporter of steel in the near future. The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) has recommended a 12% provisional safeguard to protect domestic players from surge in imports and potentially increasing their profitability. This development could potentially lead to a decrease in imports and increase market competitiveness.
  • Up to December 2024, RINL dispatched about 1,400 MT of steel to Northeast projects, including National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and National Highways and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (NHIDCL). Plans are in progress to set up a two-tier steel distribution network in Guwahati.
  • Union Minister Mr. H. D. Kumaraswamy launched Steel Import Monitoring System 2.0 (SIMS 2.0) on July 25, 2024. SIMS 2.0 improves data transparency, quality control, and integration with government portals to support steel sector growth and better import management.
  • The Union Ministry of Steel launched PLI Scheme 1.1 on January 6, 2025, with a Rs. 6,322 crore (US$ 733.40 million) outlay to boost specialty steel production and attract investments. Covering five key product categories, the scheme eases norms to reduce imports, enhance domestic manufacturing, and improve energy efficiency, with applications open until January 2025.
  • In February 2024, the government has implemented various measures to promote self-reliance in the steel industry.
  • In July 2021, the Union Cabinet approved the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for specialty steel. The scheme is expected to attract investment worth ~Rs. 400 billion (US$ 5.37 billion) and expand specialty steel capacity by 25 million tonnes (MT), to 42 MT in FY27, from 18 MT in FY21.
  • Under the Union Budget 2023-24, the government allocated Rs. 70.15 crore (US$ 8.6 million) to the Ministry of Steel.
  • In addition, an investment of Rs. 75,000 crore (US$ 9.15 billion) (including Rs. 15,000 crore (US$ 1.83 billion) from private sources) has been allocated for 100 critical transport infrastructure projects for last and first mile connectivity for various sectors such as ports, coal, and steel.
  • The Union Cabinet, Government of India approved the National Steel Policy (NSP) 2017, as it intends to create a globally competitive steel industry in India. NSP 2017 envisage 300 million tonnes (MT) steel-making capacity and 160 kgs per capita steel consumption by 2030-31.
  • The Ministry of Steel is facilitating the setting up of an industry driven Steel Research and Technology Mission of India (SRTMI) in association with the public and private sector steel companies to spearhead research and development activities in the iron and steel industry at an initial corpus of Rs. 200 crore (US$ 30 million).
  • The Government of India raised import duty on most steel items twice, each time by 2.5% and imposed measures including anti-dumping and safeguard duties on iron and steel items.
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Road Ahead

  • The steel industry has emerged as a major focus area given the dependence of a diverse range of sectors on its output as India works to become a manufacturing powerhouse through policy initiatives like Make in India. With the industry accounting for about 2% of the nation’s GDP, India ranks as the world’s second-largest producer of steel and is poised to overtake China as the world’s second-largest consumer of steel. Both the industry and the nation’s export manufacturing capacity have the potential to help India regain its favourable steel trade balance.
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  • The National Steel Policy, 2017 envisage 300 million tonnes of production capacity by FY31. The per-capita consumption of steel stood at 100 kgs in FY26 (April-August 2025) and the National Steel Policy aims to increase it to 160 kgs by FY31. While, in FY23, per capita consumption of steel in rural India was estimated to be between 21.3 kg per annum.
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  • Huge scope for growth is offered by India’s comparatively low per capita steel consumption and the expected rise in consumption due to increased infrastructure construction and the thriving automobile and railways sectors.
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Production Linked Incentive

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Specialty Steel was launched by the Union Cabinet on 29.07.2021, with financial outlay of Rs. 6,322 crore to promote the manufacturing of ‘Specialty Steel’ within the country by attracting capital investment, generate employment and promote technology up-gradation in the steel sector. At present the scheme has 44 active projects with committed investment of about Rs. 27,106 Crore and downstream capacity addition of 23.8 million tonnes. Second round of Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Specialty Steel (PLI 1.1) was launched on January 6th 2025 with a tenure from 2025-26 to 2029- 30. In second round, 25 companies with 42 projects committed Rs 17,000 crore in investment.

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