India Stainless Steel Market By Grade (200 Series, 300 Series, 400 Series, Duplex Series and Others), By Product (Flat, Long), By Application (Consumer Goods, Building and Construction, Automotive and Transportation, Heavy Industry), By Region, By Competition Forecast & Opportunities, 2018-2028F

India Stainless Steel Market is anticipated to grow at a steady pace in the forecast period 2024-2028 & growing at a very healthy CAGR in the forecast period.

Iron is used to make stainless steel, an alloy that resists rust and corrosion. It has at least 11% chromium and may also include additional nonmetals, metals, and components like carbon to get other desirable qualities. Chromium, which creates a passive coating to shield the metal and self-heal in the presence of oxygen, is responsible for stainless steel's resistance to corrosion.

Government Initiatives in the Infrastructure and Construction Sector

India has an unprecedented demand for infrastructure. In an effort to accelerate the development of India's infrastructure, the government has granted Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) authorization to assist investors in entering the real estate market there. As a result, during the upcoming years, the Indian market presents an opportunity of USD 19.65 billion. Through the Global Housing Technologies Challenge, the government hopes to update the construction industry's technology.

The government has allocated USD 29.2 billion for the Smart-Communities initiative, which aims to create world-class and sustainable communities. With investments of USD 16.5 billion, 75% of the projects were finished by June 2020. The national government has allotted USD 16.5 million for the HRIDAY initiative, which promotes the growth of historic cities. AMRUT and PMAY, among other government initiatives, and these are anticipated to have a significant positive impact on the infrastructure and construction sectors (Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, a national housing programme). In addition, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman stated in her Budget address for 2023–2024 that the Central Government planned to establish urban Infrastructure Development Fund for building infrastructure in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, across the nation worth USD 1,221.78 million annually. The National Capital Region Transport Corporation, which is bringing the Delhi-Meerut fast transit project into action, is one of the projects the government is expecting to fund with USD 2831.48 million in 2023–2024. The stainless-steel market in India is expected to benefit in a variety of ways from this, and it is anticipated that the market’s CAGR would remain high.

Current Scenario of Stainless Steel in India

Stainless steel imports are currently increasing in India. The 300 series is where the bulk of stainless-steel imports come from, and most of them come from Chinese company factories in Indonesia. After the Indian government-imposed import charges on Chinese enterprises, they began to travel through ASEAN nations that are part of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), such as Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam. Due to their free trade agreements with Indonesia, China, Japan, and Korea would have extra capacity that they aim to dump on India. The Indonesian stainless steel landing price is between USD 100 and USD 200, which is less expensive than the Indian price.

Due to Chinese companies expanding their capacity in Indonesia, the import of stainless steel from Indonesia into India increased by almost nine times, from 8,000 tonnes in 2017–18 to 67,000 tonnes in 2018–19 (on an annualised basis). In fact, from January to September 2018, Indonesian stainless HRC exports reached a total of 877,990 tonnes, up 171% over the 324,108 tonnes exported during the same period in 2017. In 2022, after the Union budget, one of the industry body named as FICCI, requested to union government to decline the basic custom duty on ferronickel to zero and impose a higher duty around 12.5% on the import of stainless steel flat products. 

Recent Developments in India’s Stainless-steel industry

Recently, demand is growing sharply by some of the end-users of the Stainless-Steel industry. Some of them are mentioned below:

Railways: There are multiple areas in railways itself where the demand for Stainless steel is increasing.

Station Infra: The foot-over and rail-over bridges are among the areas where Railways plan to update its infrastructure. Demand for the Ferritic series would particularly surge as a result.

Coaches: Retention tanks, sidewalls, roof arches, and other coach sub-assemblies are made of stainless steel. The LHB (Linke Hofmann Busch) type coaches and various variations are expected to make use of these components. In the next four to five years, Railways intends to construct 10,000 stainless steel coaches every year.

Additionally, By FY20, all new passenger coaches must employ SS, according to railroad regulations. Additionally, it aims to increase the number of coaches it ordered, from 2,500 in FY18 to 5,000 yearly in FY20.

1.    Train18 / Vande Bharat Express: Rajdhani and Shatabdi are expected to be replaced by Train 18, which can travel at a peak speed of 160 kmph. This train's carriages are expected to be made out of stainless steel.

2.    Wagons: Wagons now make up 20% of the railways' annual Stainless-Steel expenditure, which totals USD 304.22 million and includes the cost of wagons, coaches, and metro coaches. In FY20, this figure was predicted to rise from USD 400 million to 490 million. . 100,000 wagons is expected to needed overall during the next five years, and depending on the type and design, each one require between 8 and 10 tonnes of stainless steel..

Housing: The use of stainless steel will rise with various initiatives like "housing for all," as stainless steel is commonly utilised in appliances and furnishings for the house.

Kitchenware: Even now, the Cookware and Durables market still accounts for almost 50% of the use of stainless steel. The demand for kitchenware is anticipated to increase as millions more Indians gain discretionary money.