Steel demand in India to remain high: Tata Steel

Sector to see investment to the tune of about Rs two lakh crore in coming years

Steel demand in India is expected to remain high, derived by strong fundamentals and the sector is expected to see an investment to the tune of about Rs two lakh crore in coming years, domestic giant Tata Steel has said.

"Small per capita consumption will be a major growth driver and India will need to add substantial steel capacity in coming years...More than Rs 1,500-2,000 billion is expected to be invested in the steel sector over the next 6-7 years," Tata Steel has said in a presentation to Ministry of Mines.

Small per capita consumption will be a major growth driver, it said.

Tata Steel, which is among the top-10 global steel companies also said the projected capacity addition "is expected to generate 3-4 millions jobs by the year 2017."

India's per capita steel consumption is just around 60 kg, as against the world average of over 210 kg, and 460 kg in China.

The country's steel consumption grew 3.3%, lowest in three years, to 73.3 million tonnes in 2012-13 on subdued demand due to slackening economy and high interest rates.

It grew by 5.5% in 2011-12 and 9.9% in 2010-11.

In the presentation, "Potential Areas for Technical Co-Operation in Underground Coal Mining," Tata Steel also said that the steel industry is an important contributor to Indian economy.

"Steel industry is the second highest contributor to excise revenues (8%) after oil and gas," it said.

Tata Steel Group with an annual crude steel capacity of over 29 million tonnes per annum is the world's second-most geographically-diversified steel producer with operations in 26 countries.

It has a turnover of $ 24.82 billion in FY 13. Its Jamshedpur facility comprises of a 9.7 million tonne per annum (MTPA) crude steel production facility.

Besides, three new greenfield steel projects in Odisha, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are underway to augment production capacity further by 23 MTPA.