Mumbai: India’s steel consumption rose to 149 million tonnes (mnt) in FY25 and is projected to reach 192 mnt by 2030, at a CAGR of about 6-7 per cent, according to a new report.
The next phase of growth will be driven not only by infrastructure but also by higher-value steel, cleaner production and better management of price risks, according to the Multi Commodity Exchange of India Limited (MCX) report.
The report further stated that construction and infrastructure currently account for 59 per cent of consumption and are expected to contribute 60-63 per cent of demand by 2030.
It estimates that the infrastructure pipeline could unlock another 25-30 mnt of steel demand as logistics, financing and execution constraints ease.
The report sees an opportunity for Indian producers to address the gap between domestic demand and supply of higher-value steel.
“India continues to import some advanced and application-specific grades even as exports remain concentrated in lower-margin products. The specialty steel Production-Linked Incentive scheme is helping bridge this gap, with PLI 1.0-1.2 representing more than Rs 55,000 crore in committed investment,” the findings showed.
The product story is no longer about tonnes, it is about fit-for-purpose output, said the report launched during the ‘Global Commodity Conclave’ here last week.
Indian mills are increasingly targeting products for sectors such as renewables, EVs and capital goods, creating scope to improve the value generated from rising steel demand.
India’s growth will also need to be matched by efforts to lower the carbon intensity of steelmaking.
The report puts the sector’s emissions intensity at 2.55 tonnes of carbon dioxide, per tonne of crude steel, compared with roughly 1.4 tonnes in the US and about 1.9 tonnes in the EU.
The share of blast furnace-based production is projected to rise from 42 per cent to 56 per cent by 2030, said the report, highlighting renewable energy, energy efficiency, greater scrap use, green hydrogen and carbon capture among the measures being pursued to reduce emissions.
IANS
