The Indian stainless steel industry is looking ahead at a brighter future as use of stainless steel has started moving away from conventional kitchenware and appliances to other sectors such as architectural building and construction, automotive, railways, transport, process and engineering. However, the per capita consumption is still 2 kg against the world average of 6 kg. Moreover, the capacity utilisation has been low due to the pressures of imports. Removal of the import duty on raw materials such as ferro nickel and stainless steel scrap seems to be the need of the hour. Positive government policies will not only give a fillip to the sector but also help in full utilization of the existing plants’ capacities, which in turn will reduce dependence on imports, said K K Pahuja, President, Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA) in a free-wheeling interview to Ritwik Sinha. Further, the ISSDA President also stressed on use of stainless steel in construction of railway coaches to reduce loss of life caused by accidents.
The market size of finished steel is around 2.7 million tons (mt). We have an in-built capacity of 6 mt of melt products, of which we had produced around 3.3 mt of melt products in 2016. Although we have a huge amount of idle capacity in the country but we also have imports happening to the tune of 0.5 mt in 2016. Imports majorly happened due to some external factors such as subsidized and unfair trade practices. Recent Government actions of imposing countervailing duty (CVD) and antidumping will bring welcome relief.
Which industries are the top consumers of stainless steel? How has the use of stainless steel as a raw material evolved during the last decade?
Around 50 percent of the produce is consumed by the kitchenware, utensils and appliances sector. However, this segment used be around 80 percent even 10 to 12 years back. But now as the economy is progressing there is a rise in consumption from other sectors such as architectural building and construction, automotive, railways and transport, process and engineering industries. In the last 10 years or so stainless steel consumption has also come up from sectors like diary, pharmaceutical, sugar and nuclear industry. Presently, transport (including Railways) consume around 11 percent of the produce, architecture and construction consume around 8 percent, whereas process industry and engineering application sector both together consume around 30 percent of the annual produce.
What is the annual requirement for stainless steel for India Railways?
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