Official figures have confirmed that for the first six months of the current fiscal year, demand for steel across India rose as much as 7% due to a increased growth recorded in the construction, infrastructure and auto markets. However, a 4% increase in production by domestic steel companies for the said period seems to be the key reason.

In light of the new development, Union steel minister Virbhadra Singh said, “We estimate domestic steel production to go up to 60 million tonne(mt) by the end of 2009-10. Depending on various product categories, steel demand has grown between 4% and 9% during April-September 2009".

Under the current circumstances, authorities have been quick to remark that the demand for steel might just outrace the supply, a problem which might be taken care of through some new steel plants that will soon be coming up, like the Tata plant in Orissa.

Tata Steel Managing Director H. M. Nerurkar has confirmed that work on the Orissa plant is set to start by December this year.