Steel Industry: Strategic Options

Abstract

With the government and the steel industry aiming high to take steel production in the country to about 300 million tonnes per annum by the second half of the coming decade from about 90 million tonnes now, there is a need to study the reasonableness of such an ambition, identify the road to follow to reach this level if this goal is pursued, flag the challenges the Indian industry will have to overcome in the current and the foreseen global context and the choose technology route to follow given the emerging conditions of supply of raw materials, capital and labour. The steel industry globally has exhibited that in its growth, it has succumbed more than once to incorrect understanding of the market and poor timing of investment. It has also capitalized more than often the easy money made available by the banking system whenever the market for steel is good and expansion of capacity can be justified even on flimsy ground.

This study to be presented goes into the analysis of the dynamics of investment in the steel industry in India and examines alternative strategic options for the industry to follow for the coming decades than what the industry seems to be hooked on at present.