India expected to surpass 300 MT steel capacity target by 2030: SAIL chairman

India expected to surpass 300 MT steel capacity target by 2030: SAIL chairman

India is expected to surpass the 300 million tonnes (MT) steel capacity target by 2030 on the back of firm demand, SAIL Chairman Amarendu Prakash said on Saturday.

Prakash said the number looked unrealistic when the national steel policy was launched in 2017 to scale up India's total steel manufacturing capacity to 300 million tonnes per annum.

In India, steel capacity is slated to grow to 330 MT capacity in the next five years (2030) from 180 MT capacity, Prakash said.

"In fact, in 2017, India set up a national steel policy, and we said by 2030, we want to get to 300 MT. As steelmakers, we laughed. Let me admit that we laughed that 300 MT in India, at that time we were barely at 80 million (MT). We said by 2030 it is a joke. Three months back, we sat down and revised our target and said, no, by 2030, not 300 MT but 330 MT," the chairman said.

The demand elasticity is amazing. Last year, the Indian steel sector grew at 14 per cent against GDP growth of 6.5 per cent to 7 per cent. This year, in the first 10 months, it has grown by 11 per cent.

"So that's the kind of inflection point that we are seeing in terms of pace and quantum," he said.