Demand for steel in India rose by 8.3% y/y in Q1 of FY2026/2027

During the first quarter of the 2026/2027 financial year (FY2026), India’s steel industry demonstrated steady growth. According to official data from India’s Ministry of Steel, the country has seen positive trends across all key indicators: production volumes, domestic consumption and the expansion of production capacity. This was reported by Businessworld.

Between April and June 2026, steel production in India rose by 3 per cent compared with the same period last year, reaching 42.1 million tonnes. Rolled steel output showed even higher growth rates, increasing by 5.9 per cent year-on-year to 41 million tonnes. Pig iron production rose by 1.4% year-on-year to 23.5 million tonnes.

Domestic demand for rolled steel in the first quarter increased by 8.3% year-on-year, reaching 41.6 million tonnes. The main drivers of this high demand were large-scale budgetary expenditure on infrastructure, housing construction and the railway sector, as well as steady growth in the automotive and engineering sectors.

Despite strong domestic production figures, India remained a net importer of finished steel products at the end of the quarter. Steel imports rose by a record 49.2 per cent year-on-year to 2.06 million tonnes. At the same time, exports also showed an upward trend, increasing by 31.4 per cent year-on-year to 1.59 million tonnes.

In response to complaints from domestic producers, India’s Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) officially launched an anti-dumping investigation into imports of hot-rolled flat steel from China, Japan and Russia.

At the end of the reporting quarter, the aggregate production capacity of India’s steel industry reached 221.9 million tonnes per annum. According to the National Steel Policy, the country’s strategic objective is to expand capacity to 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030.

As reported by GMK Center, demand for steel in India is growing by 7–8 per cent a year, and this momentum is set to continue over the next two decades thanks to infrastructure development and a focus on new growth sectors such as data centres, shipbuilding and defence manufacturing.