Stainless steel consumption in India grew by nearly 10% during the past fiscal year, reaching 4 million tonne, as per data unveiled by the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA).
Data released by the industry body indicates that India’s per capita stainless steel consumption advanced from 2.5 kg to 2.8 kg, driven by heightened demand for the eco-friendly metal in sectors such as Railways, process industries, and ABC (architecture, building and construction).
Notably, India outperforms the global benchmark, wherein stainless-steel production contracted by 5.2%, dwindling from 58.2 million tonne in 2021 to 55.2 million tonne in 2022 (CY).
According to ISSDA, novel avenues of growth such as alternative energy, ethanol, hydrogen production, water storage and distribution will further bolster the demand for stainless steel in the coming years.
Abhyuday Jindal, managing director of Jindal Stainless, highlighted challenges faced by MSMEs due to China’s unregulated firms’ anti-dumping activities in India.
Jindal cited the Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR), which recommended imposing a 19% countervailing duty (CVD) on Chinese products, implying clear evidence of dumping.
The Prime Minister’s Office is looking at the issue of CVD on import of stainless steel, Mint had reported.
Jindal stressed the need for protection as domestic manufacturers were operating at significantly reduced capacity utilization.
In a discussion with Mint, Jindal discussed the company’s nickel investment in Indonesia, stating, “First we would like to see how that performs because this is a recent investment for us. It will take around Q2 of next year when it will be operational, so once we see how it performs, we will likely increase more investment.”
Commenting on the government’s focus on lithium as a critical mineral, he said: “Now the government is focusing on lithium, which is present in Jammu & Kashmir. It’s a positive step and we welcome this move. But enacting a single policy is insufficient; they need to back private industries to collaboratively achieve this. While lithium is a positive move, talking about nickel is less feasible due to negligible nickel ore resources in the country. It’s only available in small pockets in specific regions. So, India’s exploration of rare minerals is crucial. China dominates the global market in rare materials; India started slowly. For our company, the most critical rare mineral is nickel.”