How is stainless steel demand in India likely to shape up in this year?

While short term demand growth is one side of the story, the latest stainless steel vision document says that the domestic stainless steel demand could touch a level of 20 million tonne (MT) by the year 2047. In the current year, the demand for stainless steel stands at just about 3.7 MT. That means we are looking at a boost of almost 5.5 times in stainless demand over the next 25 years or so which is likely to throw up huge opportunities.

As projected in the Stainless Steel Vision document, the demand for stainless steel will grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 6-7% during this period. The big boost to demand for stainless steel is likely to come in the next few years as the demand is likely to spurt to around 4.8 million tonnes with a lot of the demand being front-ended. The demand will come from sectors like construction, infrastructure, and manufacturing.

The report also envisages that the total demand for stainless steel and its consumption would touch a level of 12.5 MT by the year 2040 and a level of 20 MT by the year 2047. As of March 2022, India has installed stainless steel manufacturing capacity of 6.8 MT. However, post the pandemic, the capacity utilization has just about improved to about 58%. The onus is on India to develop enough capacities and improving utilisation to meet the demand.

India is currently the second largest consumer of stainless steel and one of the fastest growing markets. Between 2010 and 2022, the per capita stainless steel consumption has more than doubled to 2.5 kg. This is expected to grow to 12 kg by the year 2047.