JAMSHEDPUR: The steel sector in the country is still in recovery mode after the Covid pandemic, Tata Steel CEO and MD T V Narendran said on Monday.
He said steel demand will continue to grow, backed by the government's focus on infrastructure development.
"This (2023) has been a good year for the steel sector in India, even though it was a challenging period globally," Narendran said here.
"The recovery of the steel industry is still continuing post the global pandemic. In fact, we recovered well due to good handling of micro-economy by the RBI, and the investment that has been made for infrastructure development," he said at a New Year programme here.
The steel demand grew 10-12 per cent in 2023 and this trend should continue, he said, while expressing apprehension about increasing import of steel from China.
"China has been exporting 8 million tonnes of steel every month (in 2023), which was the highest since 2015, and this has an impact on international steel prices as well as profitability," Narendran said.
Tata Steel will have to increase its capacity by 1-2 million tonnes every year to maintain its market share, "which we have been doing", he said.
Earlier in August 2023, Narendran had said the company is planning to scale up its annual installed steel-making capacity to 40 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2030 in India, from around 22 MTPA at present.