Stainless steel production in India shows ‘impressive growth’

India – India ranks as the world’s number one importer and consumer of stainless steel scrap not only because of the amount of stainless steel produced in India (it is second only to China) but also because of the very high proportion of scrap to primary use in its production mix, it was underlined at the meeting of the BIR Stainless Steel & Special Alloys Committee in New Delhi.

‘India represents a big potential market for stainless steel recycling,’ stressed guest speaker C. P. Gupta, chairman and managing director of Ambica Steels which is claimed to be the country’s largest stainless steel producer.

‘Stainless steel production rose to 3.32 million tonnes in 2016 – an impressive growth of 9% – with stainless steel applications in the building & construction, automotive, railway and transport sectors being the main drivers,’ Gupta told his audience in New Delhi.

India’s demonetisation initiative and the slowdown in manufacturing activity earlier this year had led to a three-year low in GDP growth of 5.7%. However, this seems to have been a short-term blip and the economy ‘is bound to grow at 7.5% in the next two years’, Gupta argued.