Steel 360 Magazine - August 2015

In this issue

The Indian Steel industry is sweating it out at the global stage, especially to strong competition from the neighboring steelmaking nations. At this juncture, the Indian industry is working on a two-pronged model – on one hand, a strategy to cut cost and on the other, demanding conducive policies from the government. It is a battle of survival especially for the indigenous secondary smaller units and traders. Experts opine that, the markets are now more accessible than ever and Indian entrepreneurs should more severely explore integration opportunities in the neighboring steel markets such as Bangladesh, Malaysia, Sri Lanka & Iran among others. Most of these markets are emerging; however these either need integration support, raw material supply or technology resulting in good opportunities for the Indian industry participants.

Domestically, Indian government’s initiatives like Make in India, Housing for All, Developing 100 Smart Cities etc are opportunities for an entrepreneur to do bigger, better and smarter. As these programs gain momentum, they will demand a high amount of money and materials especially steel. And the per capita consumption of steel in India is expected to get a boost through this; also a scale up towards the world average. As already pointed in earlier texts, two types of business mind sets occupy the centre stage currently. The large ones are willing to invest hugely to be a part of the next impetus while a big number is struggling to stand these severe waves of challenging business ecosystem.

We caught up with the head of one such Indian steel giant which has committed investments exceeding USD 30 billion in the future. Mr Ravi Uppal, MD & Group CEO of Jindal Steel & Power Limited candidly discusses opportunities in Indian Steel industry, growing role of government policies, steel producing neighbors, JSPL’s future plans and a lot more about the Indian industry. Read more on pg 24.