The Iron and Steel Industry in India

Steel industry reforms - particularly in 1991 and 1992 - have led to strong and
sustainable growth in India’s steel industry.

Since its independence, India has experienced steady growth in the steel industry,
thanks in part to the successive governments that have supported the industry and
pushed for its robust development.

Further illustrating this plan is the fact that a number of steel plants were established in
India, with technological assistance and investments by foreign countries.

In 1991, a substantial number of economic reforms were introduced by the Indian

government. These reforms boosted the development process of a number of industries
- the steel industry in India in particular - which has subsequently developed quite
rapidly.

The 1991 reforms allowed for no licenses to be required for capacity creation, except for
some locations. Also, once India’s steel industry was moved from the listing of the
industries that were reserved exclusively for the public sector, huge foreign investments
were made in this industry.

Yet another reform for India’s steel industry came in 1992, when every type of control
over the pricing and distribution system was removed, making the modern Indian Steel
Industry extremely efficient, as well as competitive.

Additionally, a number of other government measures have stimulated the growth of the
steel industry, coming in the form of an unrestricted external trade, low import duties,
and an easy tax structure.

India continually posts phenomenal growth records in steel production. In 1992, India
produced 14.33 million tones of finished carbon steels and 1.59 million tones of pig iron.
Furthermore, the steel production capacity of the country has increased rapidly since
1991 - in 2008, India produced nearly 46.575 million tones of finished steels and 4.393
million tones of pig iron.

Both primary and secondary producers contributed their share to this phenomenal
development, while these increases have pushed up the demand for finished steel at a
very stable rate.

In 1992, the total consumption of finished steel was 14.84 million tones. In 2008, the
total amount of domestic steel consumption was 43.925 million tones. With the
increased demand in the national market, a huge part of the international market is also
served by this industry. Today, India is in seventh position among all the crude steel
producing countries.

The following are the premier steel plants operating in India:

Salem Steel Plant at Tamil Nadu

Bhilai Steel Plant at Chattisgarh
Durgapur Steel Plant at West Bengal 
Alloy Steel Plants at West Bengal
Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant in Karnataka
Rourkela Steel Plant at Orissa
Bokaro Steel Plant at Jharkhand

28 MAY, 2010, 01.31AM IST, NAVIN VOHRA,ET BUREAU 

Steel: The Road Ahead Looks Promising

The global steel industry has been through a roller-coaster ride in the last three years. While 2007 and the
first half of 2008 were characterised by positive market fundamentals, the second half of 2008 and the
first half of 2009 saw a difficult operating environment. The worldwide economic crisis took a toll on the
industry as demand dipped, resulting in a sharp decline in prices from their all-time high in mid-2008.
Backed by fiscal stimulus-led global economic recovery, steel industry (including steel raw materials)
demonstrated signs of demand pick-up and price stabilisation during the last quarter of 2009.  

The current year appears to be a very promising for the steel industry. The first four months of 2010 has
seen a significant increase in steel demand led by strong growth in key end-user segments like
automobile, infrastructure and consumer goods. Not only have capacity utilisations improved, steel prices
have almost doubled over the last one year. 

Posco, the fourth largest steelmaker in the world, reported a four-fold increase in operating profit during
the first quarter of the current year compared to the operating profit reported in the same period last year.
Similar results are expected from the other leading steel players in India as well as globally. 

That said, amidst the turmoil, China and India were two countries that stood apart with positive growth at
the time when the world was reeling under demand pressure. The 2009 global downturn and the
subsequent recovery have accentuated the importance of China and India to the world steel industry. This
clearly demonstrates both countries’ strong domestic consumption story. Even though real estate and
housing sector marked decline in activity in 2009, the same was more than compensated by sustained
growth in sectors in infrastructure, manufacturing and automobile. 

Though the fortune of the Indian steel industry appears bright, the ride may not be so smooth in the near
to long term. One of the key concerns is the sharp increase in raw material prices like iron ore and coking
coal which is likely to dent the profitability of the most of Indian steel players. Also, regular and
uninterrupted supplies of iron ore might be at risk considering the current wave of curb on illegal mining
activities in key ore-producing areas like Orissa, Karnataka and Jharkhand. 
Another concern is the delay in executing greenfield projects. Indian demand for steel is expected to
reach 100 million tonnes in the next few years. No large greenfield steel project have been able to take
off, owing to tough regulatory environment in terms of land acquisition, forest clearance, relief and
rehabilitation procedures and most importantly grant of iron ore mining leases. To add to the woes of the
steel producers, poor transport infrastructure (railway, road as well as ports) also increase costs, thereby
affecting the bottom line. 

M&A Trends in the Steel Industry 

While people may disagree, any downturn of a short duration in any industry is a necessary evil as it
forces the incumbents to refocus on long-term strategy. Raw material security, economies of scale, cost
reduction and risk diversification were the key focus areas for steel players in 2009. The year witnessed
the emergence of China at the forefront of mergers & acquisitions (M&A) activities.