India's Steel Industry is more than a century old.

Before the economic reforms of the early 1990s

the Indian steel industry was a predominantly regulated one with the public sector dominating
the industry.

Tata Steel was the only major private sector company involved the production of steel in India.
Sail and Tata Steel have traditionally been the major steel producers of India. In 1992, the
liberalization of the India economy led to the opening up of various industries including the steel
industry. This led to the increase in the number of producers, increased investments in the steel
industry and increased production capacity. Since 1990, more than Rs 19,000 crores (US$
4470.58 million) has been invested in the steel industry of India

India's steel industry went through a rough phase between 1997 and 2001 when the overall
global steel was facing a downturn and recovered after 2002. The major factors that led to the
revival of the steel industry in India after 2002 was the rise in global demand for steel and the
domestic economic growth in India.

India has now emerged as the eighth largest producer of steel in the world with a production
capacity of 35MT. Almost all varieties of steel is now produced in India. India has also emerged
as a net exporter of steel which shows that Indian steel is being increasingly accepted in the
global market.

The growth of the steel industry in India is also dependant, to a large extent, on the level of
consumption of steel in the domestic market. Steel consumption is significant in housing and
infrastructure. In recent years the surge in housing industry of India has led to increase in the
domestic demand for steel.

More than 3500 different varieties of steel are available in the steel industry of India. These can
however be classified into two broad categories –

 Flat Products - Flat products include plates and hot rolled sheets such as coils and sheets.
Flat products are derived from slabs. One of the major uses of steel plates is in ship building.

 Long Products - Long products include bars, rods, wires, ropes and piers. These are called
long products due to their shapes. Long products are made from billets and blooms. Long
products are mostly used in housing and construction and also in rail tracks.
 Steel Giants, Steel Leaders, India
Opening up of markets have given immense opportunities to the business leaders in
India to capture the opportunities over the globe. The time gap in the period of 2001-06
is considered as the best time for India's business leaders. The fast rising economic
performance of has created an environment of optimism on the part of the investors to
invest more.

Indian Industries in the fields of , , , and some others have brought tremendous success
for the country. Here in this section we have covered various sectors of Indian Economy
and the successful persons in the respective areas, name of companies and value of
equity holding.

Challenges before Indian Steel Industry

There are certain challenges before the steel industry of India in the recent times. India
has been one of the major producers of steel in the world and has also been attracting a
lot of foreign direct investment.

A few issues would need to be attended to if India wants to be counted as one of the
major and most economical producers of steel. The three areas that need to be
improved upon in the view of the exports are the infrastructure, ability to draw the top
names in steel, and wealth creation issues.

The condition of the infrastructural facilities of the steel industry in India is not at all
conducive to a sustainable growth and development of the steel industry of the India.
The methods that are adopted for the creation of wealth in the Indian steel industry are
also supposed to act as hindrances to the growth and development of the Indian steel
industry. The Indian steel industry has also not been able to draw the best professionals
in the steel industry and that has been a major drawback of the industry.

The experts are also of the opinion that not enough policies or measures have been
adopted to amend the situation in case of the infrastructural facilities available in the
steel sector. Even though India is capable of producing steel at a good rate and also
increase the volume of production there is not enough land available to support such
activities. One of the major reasons for such problems is the consistently increasing
population of India.

The design institutions in India have not been successful at recruiting the best of
engineers and metallurgists in India. This has affected the technological aspect of the
Indian steel industry.

The experts are of the opinion that this issue has to be countered in order to reduce the
dependence on the overseas technological assistance. The steps taken by Tata Steel
are instructive in such a context. The company has been increasing public awareness
about the steel industry through books and educational sessions at the Indian Institute
of Technology at Kharagpur.

Top Companies in Indian Steel Industry

The performance of the Indian steel industry has been quite satisfactory over the last
decade. Aided by the cutting-edge technology, the steel industry in Asia has made
advancements in all areas of operation. There has been a substantial increase in
demand for Indian steel products in the global market in the recent times.

This has helped in the growth of Indian steel industry. The industry recorded the highest
growth rate in the period from 2004-2005, when the growth rate of the steel sector was
4%. The increased consumption of the finished steel products in the domestic market
acted as a positive catalyst in the growth process of the Indian steel industry. The
favorable market condition has helped the companies operating in Indian steel industry
to expand their operations and earn huge profit.

The top companies of the Indian steel sector mostly operate in four different forms like
producers of pig iron, producers of stainless steel, producers of finished steel products,
and producers of semi-finished steel. The companies functional in the steel industry of
India are both public sector companies and private sector companies.

Some of the leading companies in Indian steel industry are as follows:

 Ahmadabad Steel Craft: Producer of windows, ventilators, steel doors and the like
 Ambica Steel: Producer of carbon steel, alloy, and stainless steel
 Apollo Tubes: Manufacturer of steel tubes and pipes
 Bengal Industries: Producer of hoses made up of stainless steel
 Bokaro Steel Plant: Steel manufacturer

 Beehive Kowtha Group: Manufacturer of castings, towers, and steel buildings

 Central Steel Corporation: Producer of alloy and tool steels

 Bharat Impex: Manufacturer of stainless steel kitchenware
 Allied Ferromelt: Producer of non alloy and alloy steel
 Anchor Engineers' Files: Producer of steel files for engineers
 Essar Steel: Producer of sponge iron, steel and iron ore pellets
 ColdFab: Producer of pre-fabricated buildings of steel
 Govind Steel: Producer of ductile and grey iron
 Gaysons: Producer of steel rolls
 Devson Steels: Fabricates storage tanks
 Hisar Metal: Producer of strips and stainless cold rolled steel coils
 Buyao Info: Producer of steel products and re-rolled iron
 Jindal Iron & Steel: Producer of galvanized steel products
 Kanoi Group: Dealer of corrugated sheets and steel coils
 Jindal Steel & Power: Manufacturer of mild steel slabs and sponge iron
 Lloyds Steel: Producer of corrugated sheets and steel coils
 Metalman Industries: Producer of tubular and flat steel items
 Steel Authority of India: Manufacturer of steel and iron
 Tata Steel: Producer and supplier of wire rods, bars, and steel flats
 Vizag Steel: Producer of pig iron and steel.

Size of India’s Steel Industry

The steel industry is one of the major industries of India. It has also gained considerable
importance in the global steel industry. This century old industry of India was mostly a
regulated one till 1990.

The economic reforms undertaken in India in the early 1990s gave a major boost to the
steel industry and it grew considerably in terms of investment, production capacity and
number of producers. The industry faced a downturn during the late nineties but revived
again by 2002.

The size of India's steel industry has increased considerably in recent years. According
to latest available estimates, India ranks eighth among the top steel producers of the
world with a production capacity of 35 MT.
The steel industry of India has capital investments of more than Rs 100, 000 crores.
The total employment in the industry is more than two million (including direct and
indirect employment).

Some of the major reasons that have led to the growth in the size of
India's steel industry are -

Abundant availability of iron-ore in India

Good facilities for steel production

Increased consumption of steel in the sectors like construction.

Global Demand for Steel and Indian Steel Industry

The global demand for steel is at an all time high nowadays. Much of the tremendous
demand for steel around the world may be attributed to the numerous construction
projects that are going on around the world.

Much of these projects are taking place in the economically developing countries of the
world like India, China and Thailand. China is the place where a lot of construction is
being done nowadays and much of the construction is for the purpose of the Olympics
to be held in 2008 and the Shanghai World Exposition of 2010.

Along with being one of the major users of steel, China is one of the major producers of
steel as well. During March, 2007 China produced a record 40.16 million tonnes of
steel. The demand for steel has gone up in the United States of America as well.

This may be ascertained from the fact that in 2007 the amount of steel used was 2.2%
more than what it was in 2006. Thus it may be ascertained that the supply and the
demand for steel is at their respective peaks. This bodes well for the Indian steel
industry as India has plenty of steel to meet up with both the domestic as well as
international demand.

India has a lot of iron ores. This implies that India has a ready base for producing sufficient
amount of steel and the experts are also of the opinion that the Indian steel industry would
continue to grow in the coming years. In the recent times the production of steel has gone up in
the country from 17 million tonnes in 1990 to 36 million tonnes in 2003.

The Indian steel industry is trying to reach the 66 million tonnes mark in 2011. The high levels of
production would allow the Indian steel industry to establish a stronghold on a number of areas
like housing, construction, and ground transportation. The special steel produced by the Indian
steel industry is supposed to be used in high end engineering industries like generation of
power, fertilizers and petrochemicals.

The fact that India is not a voracious consumer of steel like some of the major economies like
China and the United States of America means that India would be able to use the surplus steel
it produces for exporting to other countries so that their demands are met. This would help the
Indian steel industry to be regarded as one of the most prominent steel industries if not the
leading one

Growth Potential of India’s Steel Industry

India has traditionally been one of the major producers of steel in the world. Till the
1990s the steel industry of India was regulated and controlled by government policies.

After the economic reforms of the early 1990s, the Indian steel industry has evolved
significantly to conform to global standards.

India has set a vision to be an economically developed nation by 2020. The steel
industry is expected to play a major role in India's economic development in the coming
years. The steel industry of India has a very high growth potential and is expected to
register significant growth in the coming decades. India is expected to emerge as a
strong force in the global steel market in coming years.

The two major aspects that are expected to play a significant role in
the growth of the steel industry in India are -

 Abundant availability of iron ore in the country

 The country has well established facilities for steel production

Steel production in India has grown from 17 MT in 1990 to 36 MT in 2003. It is expected

that by 2011, the steel production in India will grow to 66 MT.

 The major sectors where consumption of steel is expected to grow

in the coming years are -

 Construction
 Housing
 Ground transportation

 Hi-tech engineering industries such as power generation, petrochemicals, fertilizers

The current scenario of the Indian steel industry indicates that there is huge growth potential in
this industry. The per capita-consumption of steel in India, according to latest available
estimates, is only 29 kg. This is much less compared to the global average of 140kg. The per
capita consumption level of developed nations like the United States of America is 400kg. In this
respect, one of the major initiatives that need to be taken is to focus on increasing the
consumption of steel in the rural areas of India. The potential for the growth of consumption of
steel in the rural areas of India for purposes like rural housing, rural infrastructure, etc is high
which needs to be tapped efficiently.

In order to realize the growth potential in the steel industry of India, it is essential to ensure that
the industry can remain competitive. One of the major aspects in this regard is the availability of
inputs. Shortage of inputs like coke has led to increase in costs earlier. Moreover proper
infrastructure facilities like transport infrastructure, power etc are of prime importance in
maintaining the competitiveness of the industry.

Most developed countries have regulations that are aimed to protect the domestic steel industry.
The Indian steel industry has comparatively much lesser protection through regulations. Proper
regulatory measures should be adopted by the government to protect the domestic steel
industry.