High value added steel – a new growth frontier for India
By Ranjan Dhar
India, currently the fastest-growing major economy, is set to emerge as the third largest by 2027, propelled by a host of factors, including favourable demographics, stable and progressive policies with a strategic focus on infrastructure, digitisation, manufacturing, logistics, trade, and energy transition. Despite strong global headwinds and rising interest rates, India is still expected to grow between 6.5 per cent and 7.0 per cent by 2030.
Steel will be at the heart of industrial expansion, which is why India plans to double steel production to 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030.
Investment in steel capacity has been rising for several years, driven by consolidation, thus improving efficiencies and capacity utilisation levels. These improved operating conditions have allowed the leading players to build economies of scale as well as scope, which are critical in a market of India’s size.
The Government's vision of a $5 trillion economy by 2027 entails investments worth Rs 100 lakh crore in steel-intensive infrastructure sectors, automotive and railway sectors coupled with factors such as the opening of the defence sector for private participation and the vehicle scrappage policy.
The scale of this demand is why the industry is investing heavily in building capacity.
Presently, India’s per capita consumption of steel, a key developmental indicator, is still significantly small compared to developed countries.
Steel has an employment multiplier factor of 6.8x, contributing approximately 14% to the manufacturing GDP and 2% to the country’s GDP. It employs over 6 lakh people directly and 20 lakh people indirectly.
Read more on economictimes.indiatimes.com
