Indian Steel Industry has been in the limelight in recent times. Last year, especially, proved to be one of the best years for the industry as it churned out excellent performances, on the back of rising steel prices, restructuring and revival in global demand. However, the question doing the rounds now is: Will the industry be able to sustain this growth, going ahead? To debate on this issue, The Analyst invited three eminent experts, B Muthuraman, MD, Tata Steel, Vikram Amin, Director, Marketing, Essar Steel and Bratin Biswas, Market Analyst.
B Muthuraman (BM):The Indian steel industry is now integrated into the global market and is subject to the same business cycles. A few years back, the global steel market had crashed to an unprecedented 20-year low and the Indian steel industry, which had been deregulated only recently at that time, faced the full impact. Fortunately, the upswing started about two years ago and currently the Indian steel industry is in good financial health and the steel producers are confident enough to pump in investments to creating additional capacities.
Vikram Amin (VA): The current scenario is a very steady one. We expect the Indian industry to grow at a rate of 8 to 9% in the next three to five years. In the recent past, Indian steel producers have emerged as global players exporting quality products at competitive prices to the tune of 4.5 million tons annually and we expect this trend to continue.
Bratin Biswas (BB): The current scenario with respect to the Indian steel industry can be termed as comfortable. The Indian steel industry appears strong and healthy after being on the verge of collapsing at the end of 2001-02, with a strong performance in 2002-03 as well as 2003-04. |
