Auto sector bolsters steel demand to 7% till October

India’s steel demand grew 7 per cent in the first seven months of the fiscal year up to October, Steel Secretary Atul Chaturvedi said, spurred by the needs of makers of cars and appliances and builders of rural homes.

Demand for some products rose 9 per cent in the same period, he said in Kolkata, while attending an industry conference in the city.

Increasing demand for automobiles, refrigerators and air-conditioners and rising farm income are boosting steel sales in India, the world’s second-fastest growing major economy. The nation’s industrial production in September rose 9.1 per cent from a year earlier, according to government data.

Steel consumption rose 5.7 per cent to 26.49 million tonnes in the six months ended September 30 from a year earlier, former steel secretary Pramod Rastogi said last month.

The World Steel Association, comprising about 180 steelmakers, said on October 12 the emerging economies of China and India would rebound faster than developed nations.

India’s steel demand might gain as much as 10 per cent this fiscal year, almost double the pace previously estimated, as the government spent more on infrastructure, Rastogi had said in June.