Stainless Steel Capacity Utilization Below 60%? Indian Industry Seeks Government Intervention to Break the Deadlock!

According to Indian media reports on November 2, 2025, India's stainless steel industry faces the challenge of severely underutilized capacity. Industry data shows that the country's total installed capacity for stainless steel is 7.5 million tons, but the current capacity utilization rate is only around 60%. To address this situation, Indian domestic stainless steel companies are actively urging the government to introduce more targeted measures to restrict the impact of imported products.

To protect the domestic stainless steel industry, the Indian government has implemented several policies in recent years, including a Quality Control Order (QCO) for stainless steel products, requiring imported materials to meet the certification requirements of the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). However, industry insiders point out that current measures are insufficient to effectively prevent theimport of substandard or low-priced stainless steel and suggest extending the QCO period to further regulate import sources.

It is worth noting that although India previously imposed a 200-day temporary safeguard duty on some steel products, the stainless steel industry believes that this does not cover its core concerns and has submitted a separate application to the government requesting a special investigation into stainless steel imports. It is reported that the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI Aayog) is expected to hold a meeting soon to discuss strategies for dealing with the surge in stainless steel imports with industry representatives.

The industry emphasizes that, in line with the government's "self-reliance" strategy, Indian stainless steel companies have planned to invest heavily in capacity expansion and hope that the government will provide continued policy support to help domestic companies enhance their market competitiveness.

Regarding major import sources, imports from South Korea, Russia, and Indonesia have increased since 2025, while the proportion from China, Japan, Vietnam, and Thailand has decreased.

With domestic steel prices falling to a five-year low in October, Indian stainless steel producers are hoping that the government will quickly introduce stronger intervention policies to create favorable conditions for increased capacity utilization and healthy industry development.