Steel Capacity
India likely to double steel capacity in 10 years, says Steel Secy Poundrik
This story was originally published at 16:33 IST on 18 February 2026
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NEW DELHI – India is likely to double its steel capacity within a decade, Steel Secretary Sandeep Poundrik said at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, adding that India is the only major economy seeing a strong growth in steel demand despite consumption stagnating globally. "In the next five years, we are likely to add about 100 million tonnes. In the next 10 years, we are likely to add about 200 million tonnes," he said.
Poundrik said the expansion of steel capacity would lead to an investment of around $200 billion. "One million tonnes of capacity roughly takes about $1 billion. So that is the investment which is going to happen in the steel sector," he said.
The secretary said one needs to find ways for the steel sector and the artificial intelligence ecosystem to work in coordination so the country gets the best possible benefit from the technology. "But AI should not be used just because we want to do AI. It should lead to some economic benefit, or it should improve safety, or it should improve time, which will again lead to economic benefit, or address some environmental, social, and governance-related issue," he said.
The steel ministry is pushing for deeper integration of artificial intelligence across the steel value chain, from mining and logistics to plant operations and market intelligence, he said. The secretary also listed segments such as stockpile management, drilling, blasting, fleet management, and blast furnace efficiency improvement that the iron and steel sector can target to integrate artificial intelligence. End
US$1 = INR 90.67
Reported by Pratiksha
Edited by Saji George Titus
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