Overview
- About 150 mills have halted operations and roughly 50 have cut output, with profitability under pressure across the sector, according to Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrik.
- Hot-rolled coil prices were around Rs 47,000–48,000 per tonne in late October, near five-year lows, as surplus global supply—particularly from China—drags on the market.
- India currently applies a 12% temporary safeguard duty on a broad range of steel products, which is due to expire this week, and the trade authority has recommended a three-year extension that the government has yet to decide on.
- The government is tightening Quality Control Orders and ramping inspections to block substandard imports while working with the coal ministry to raise domestic coking coal use from heavy import dependence of about 90%.
- The ministry says India must add about 100 million tonnes of capacity in the next five to seven years—requiring roughly $100 billion—while piloting DRI-plus-hydrogen routes that could become viable within five to ten years.