India’s steel industry began FY2026–27 on a positive note, with higher production and stronger domestic consumption during the April–June quarter. According to the Ministry of Steel, crude steel output reached 42.1 million tonnes (Mt) in the first quarter, while finished steel production increased to 41.0 Mt, reflecting continued demand from infrastructure, construction, manufacturing, and other industrial sectors.
The latest provisional data also shows that steel consumption continued to outpace production growth, highlighting healthy domestic demand. At the same time, India remained a net importer of finished steel during the quarter, even as both imports and exports increased compared with a year earlier.
Alongside production and trade data, the Ministry outlined recent policy and industry developments, including digital transformation initiatives, an anti-dumping investigation into certain steel imports, capacity expansion projects, and new green steel measures aimed at improving efficiency and sustainability.
Key Highlights
- Crude steel production increased 3.0% year-on-year to 42.1 Mt during April–June FY2026–27.
- Finished steel production rose 5.9% to 41.0 Mt, while finished steel consumption grew 8.3% to 41.6 Mt.
- India remained a net importer of finished steel during the first quarter despite higher exports.
- Prices of major steel products declined on a monthly basis in June 2026, although they remained above last year’s levels.
- The Ministry continued to promote digitalisation, domestic capacity expansion, and green steel initiatives.
- India’s installed crude steelmaking capacity remained 221.9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA), progressing toward the National Steel Policy target of 300 MTPA by 2030.
Read: India Steel Output May 2026: Production, Demand, Trade and Price Trends
Steel Production Continues to Expand
India produced 14.1 Mt of crude steel in June 2026, up 3.9% from June 2025. During the April–June quarter, crude steel production reached 42.1 Mt, compared with 40.8 Mt in the same period last year.
Finished steel production recorded stronger growth. June output increased to 13.8 Mt, while cumulative production during the quarter reached 41.0 Mt, representing a 5.9% year-on-year increase.
Hot metal production remained broadly stable. Quarterly production rose 1.4% to 23.5 Mt, although June production was almost unchanged from the previous year. The country’s top seven steel producers together accounted for 23.2 Mt of crude steel production during the quarter, with the remaining producers contributing 18.9 Mt. Public sector companies represented 15.7% of crude steel production.
Domestic Steel Demand Remains Healthy
Finished steel consumption continued to grow faster than production, indicating sustained demand from the domestic economy.
India consumed 14.2 Mt of finished steel in June 2026, up 7.2% from a year earlier. During the first quarter of FY2026–27, consumption reached 41.6 Mt, an increase of 8.3% over the corresponding period of the previous year.
Higher steel consumption is generally associated with increased activity in sectors such as infrastructure, housing, automobiles, engineering, and capital goods, making it an important indicator of industrial and economic growth.
Steel Prices Ease While Trade Activity Increases
Average prices of major steel products softened during June 2026 compared with May.
- TMT bars declined 4.7% month-on-month to ₹60,068 per tonne.
- Hot Rolled (HR) Coil fell 0.5% to ₹70,108 per tonne.
- Cold Rolled (CR) Coil decreased 1.1% to ₹77,053 per tonne.
- Galvanised (GP) Sheets dropped 2.8% to ₹86,505 per tonne.
Despite the monthly decline, all four products remained priced higher than in June 2025, reflecting stronger year-on-year market conditions. The reported prices include GST and are based on average prices across Kolkata, Delhi, Mumbai, and Chennai.
Trade activity also expanded significantly during the quarter.
Finished steel imports reached 2.06 million tonnes, up 49.2% from a year earlier, while exports increased 31.4% to 1.59 million tonnes. As imports exceeded exports, India remained a net importer of finished steel during April–June 2026.
Raw material prices showed mixed trends. Iron ore prices from NMDC increased modestly during June, whereas manganese ore and scrap prices declined, potentially easing input costs for some steelmakers.
Digitalisation, Capacity Expansion and Green Steel Initiatives
Beyond production data, the Ministry of Steel highlighted several developments affecting the sector.
The Ministry organised a Chintan Shivir on Digitalisation in the Steel Sector to encourage wider adoption of artificial intelligence, automation, predictive maintenance, digital mining and smart manufacturing technologies across the industry.
The Directorate General of Trade Remedies (DGTR) also initiated an anti-dumping investigation into imports of hot-rolled flat steel from China, Japan and Russia following complaints regarding unfair pricing. The investigation will determine whether such imports have caused injury to domestic producers.
On the industry front, MECON Limited received Miniratna Category-I status, providing greater financial and operational autonomy. JSW Group announced the start of construction of its proposed 2 MTPA integrated steel plant in Kadapa, Andhra Pradesh, while NMDC reported strong iron ore production growth during June despite the monsoon season.
The Ministry also highlighted sustainability efforts. SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant introduced a digital CO₂ Dashboard to strengthen emissions monitoring and decarbonisation, while SAIL’s Barsua-Taldih Iron Mines carried out plantation activities as part of Van Mahotsav 2026. These initiatives align with the industry’s broader efforts to improve environmental performance while expanding production capacity.
Source: Ministry of Steel
