A draft policy document outlining a national steel vision for 2047 sets out targets calling for finished steel consumption to reach 505 million tonnes, a level that would require the country to build out crude steel production capacity to 604 million tonnes per year. The policy centres on three stated aims — building up home-grown industry, reducing dependence on foreign goods, and cutting emissions — positioned within the broader Viksit Bharat framework.

Forecast figures built into the plan put per capita consumption of steel at 302 kg and outbound shipments at 45 million tonnes by 2047, with the framework spanning raw materials, technology, manufacturing, trade, workforce development, and occupational safety.

Crude steel output climbed from 89 million tonnes to 170 million tonnes between 2014-15 and 2025-26, while demand for finished steel — measured by domestic consumption — tracked a parallel trajectory, moving from 77 million tonnes up to 164 million tonnes over the same span, according to a broadcast news outlet. Between 2014 and 2025, India's share of worldwide crude steel output climbed from 5.2 per cent to 8.9 per cent.

The nation's steelmaking infrastructure currently operates at an installed output ceiling of 220 million tonnes per year. Roughly two-thirds of domestic steel demand is absorbed by construction and infrastructure, with the remaining 28 per cent drawn from automobiles, engineering goods, appliances, and packaging combined.

Urbanisation, the build-out of renewable energy networks, cleaner transport options, and expanding digital infrastructure are all identified in the policy as forces that will push consumption higher in the years ahead.

Between 65 and 70 per cent of what steelmakers spend goes toward sourcing the raw materials that feed their furnaces. Domestic iron ore production covers the bulk of what the country requires, yet roughly 92 per cent of its coking coal demand is met through overseas supply. Among the measures outlined in the draft are plans to broaden domestic mining operations and coal washery capacity, pursue asset acquisition abroad, lock in reliable long-term supply arrangements, and deploy artificial intelligence to fine-tune coal blending.

Among its stated objectives, the plan targets the roughly 2,550 facilities that make up the secondary steel sector — a segment responsible for close to 47 per cent of the country's crude steel output — by working to broaden access to raw materials, encourage the uptake of newer technologies, build workforce capabilities, and raise safety standards on the shop floor.

The steel industry produces roughly 10 to 12 per cent of India's total carbon dioxide output and releases around 2.54 tonnes of CO₂ for every tonne of crude steel manufactured — a figure that runs above the worldwide benchmark of 1.92 tonnes. Decarbonisation under the plan would unfold in stages stretching to 2070, drawing on advances in energy efficiency, electricity generated from renewable sources, expanded use of recycled scrap material, and the eventual deployment of hydrogen-based technologies.

Under the proposed framework, expanding home-grown output of finished goods — stainless and specialty steel among them — sits alongside a push to reduce dependence on overseas raw materials and outside technology. Among the steps put forward are building a homegrown scrap supply chain, fostering clusters of downstream manufacturing activity, establishing Centres of Excellence, advancing locally developed technologies, and consolidating purchasing power through demand aggregation.

Among the measures put forward is a push to raise steel quality standards through updated Indian Standards frameworks and fresh conformity assessment procedures. Proposed trade measures — among them an artificial-intelligence-driven system for tracking incoming shipments — aim to reduce the flow of below-standard steel into the market, while domestic producers meeting quality benchmarks would receive support to expand their overseas reach.