India's steel demand to grow by over 7% in FY19, FY20 on railways, capital goods and construction sectors' growth

New Delhi: India’s steel demand is likely to grow by over 7 percent in 2019 and 2020, driven by sectors like construction, capital goods and railways, as per the Indian Steel Association. “The Indian Steel Association has forecast India’s steel demand to grow by 7.1 percent in the calendar year 2019 and by 7.2 percent in the calendar year 2020,” the domestic steel body said. [caption id=“attachment_4358339” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Reuters.[/caption] As for the financial year, the forecast for steel demand growth is 7.2 percent in both 2019-20 and 2020-21, the Indian Steel Association said. It also forecast that India’s steel consumption is likely to cross 100 million tonnes (MT) mark in 2019. Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh has earlier this year said that growth trend in steel consumption in India will continue, due to the strong manufacturing sector, diversified demand demographics, accelerated expenditure on infrastructure, the anticipated increase in GDP and a strong focus on ‘Make in India’. “Investment driven sectors such as construction, capital goods and railways are likely to maintain the healthy growth momentum driven by infrastructure programmes such as Bharatmala, Sagarmala, railway track electrification, dedicated freight corridors, metro rails, etc,” the statement said. In addition, while, reduction in GST rates will support the real estate demand, ongoing capacity additions in the renewable energy segment would continue to boost the electrical equipment demand, it said.