Betul: India’s plan to expand steel production capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030 will require a $100 billion investment, said Alok Sahay, secretary general of the Indian Steel Association, speaking at the India Energy Week conference on Wednesday, reports Govind Maad.The capital requirement, approximately Rs 9 lakh crore, reflects the industry’s substantial role in supporting India’s infrastructure growth and expansion. “Every million tonne requires a billion dollars of investment,” Sahay explained during a session on mitigating steel supply-demand gaps. India, now the world’s second-largest steel producer and consumer, defied global trends, with consumption growing at 11%-13% annually over the past five years, far exceeding initial projections of 7.5%-8%.This growth comes even as major steel-consuming nations, including China, the US, Korea, and Japan, experienced negative growth.“India is the only large steel-consuming country where there is positive growth,” Sahay said, attributing this to the country’s expanding infrastructure needs.The industry currently operates at 200 million tonnes capacity and plans to add approximately 20 million tonnes annually, with consumption increases of 15-20 million tonnes per year.Currently consuming 95 terawatt hours of electricity, the industry expects demand to reach 184 terawatt hours by 2030, though Sahay suggested actual consumption might be lower due to efficiency improvements.He said that as the share of renewable energy in India’s power grid increases from the current 30% to a projected 43% by 2030, carbon emissions from steel-making are expected to decrease by 260 units.Sahay said that achieving full decarbonisation would require approximately $350 billion in green transition investments, more than three times the capacity expansion cost. “It’s a chicken and egg story,” he said, pointing out that demand for green steel must materialise before massive investments can be justified.Sahay further said India achieved near self-sufficiency in producing specialised steel for solar panels. Previously dependent on Korean imports, the country now has 2-3 producers capable of meeting domestic demand, which requires 21-27 tonnes of steel per megawatt of solar capacity.
