Economics of the Indian Steel Industry Routledge Studies in the Economics of Business and Industry Series

Steel is the foundational material of modern civilization and constitutes the core of industry, and yet, it is overproduced across the world. This supply glut is reducing margins and turning steel into a sunset industry. Steel consumes as much as four times the amount of raw materials as its produced volume, and the sheer bulk of the steel makes it costly to transport. Because of this, countries prefer to make their own rather than to source it across land and sea.

The Indian steel industry has grown from being the tenth largest steel producer in the world in 1991 to emerging as the second largest, after China. This book aims to reveal, through data and the use of simple economic concepts, the mistakes that abound in the discourses surrounding the steel industry. Its main objective is to dispel the many myths that are perpetuated by policy makers and the industry in order to benefit a small coterie of large firms, and discusses how through such favours the Indian steel industry is set to lose out in terms of margins, products and growth in technology. It covers the unique role of the Indian state in the development of the broad base of steel production, and observes the change in the direction in policy, which reverses the economic equality of the past and promotes collusion among oligopolies leading to overexpansion in capacities.

Economics of the Indian Steel Industry will be of interest to students of industrial economics and corporate strategy, as well as financial managers and policy makers.

List of Tables

List of Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction

1. Issues Facing The Steel Industry





2. Parameters of Steel Policy in India





3. Excess Capacity and Production of Steel in the World





4. Over Capacity in the Indian Steel Industry





5. Producers and Product Mix





6. Who To Promote, The Integrated Mills Or Electric Furnaces?





7. The Failure of Demand of Steel in India





8. The Myth of the S Curve





9. The Metallics Balance of Steel





10. Bad Loans of The Steel Industry: What Do The NPAs Really Tell?





11. Technologies For Making Steel





12. The Cost of Steel





13. The Price of Steel





14. Profits From Steel





15. The Steel Trade of India

Conclusion: Summary of Arguments

Index

Susmita Dasgupta is a policy economist and a sociologist of popular culture. She has worked with the Joint Plant Committee, Ministry of Steel for the past thirty years and is among the busiest speakers at steel conferences in India.