India's steel sector still in recovery mode post-Covid pandemic: Tata Steel CEO

JAMSHEDPUR: The steel sector in the country is still in recovery mode after the Covid pandemic, Tata Steel CEO and MD T V Narendran said on Monday.

He said demand for steel will continue to grow, backed by the government’s focus on infrastructure development.

“This (2023) has been good year for the steel sector in India, even though it was a challenging period globally,” Narendran said here.

“The recovery of the steel industry is still continuing post the global pandemic. In fact, we recovered well due to good handling of micro-economy by the RBI, and the investment that has been made for infrastructure development,” he said at a New Year programme here.

The demand for steel grew 10-12 per cent in 2023 and this trend should continue, he said, while expressing apprehension about increasing import of steel from China.

“China has been exporting 8 million tonnes of steel every month (in 2023), which was the highest since 2015, and this has an impact on international steel prices as well as profitability,” Narendran said.

Tata Steel will have to increase its capacity by 1-2 million tonnes every year to maintain its market share, “which we have been doing”, he said.

Earlier in August 2023, Narendran had said the company is planning to scale up its annual installed steel-making capacity to 40 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2030 in India, from around 22 MTPA at present.

Narendran said the steel major will commission several facilities at the Kalinganagar plant in Odisha in 2024, to take its capacity from 3 million tonnes to 8 million tonnes.

Tata Steel plans to invest Rs 10,000 crore for expansion activities every year, the top company official said.

“We are also investing in downstream plants in Jamshedpur, including Indian Steel & Wire Products (ISWP), and doubling the capacity of Tinplate Company of India,” he said.

“We are making our process cleaner and greener to ensure the city (Jamshedpur) has more value-added growth,” Narendran added.