Ind-Ra revises steel sector outlook to 'stable-to-negative'

India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra) has revised its outlook on the steel sector to 'stable-to-negative' from 'stable' for the remainder of this fiscal, owing to sluggish demand growth expectation. The rating agency Ind-Ra has also revised downwards its FY20 steel demand growth expectation to around 4 per cent from the previous forecast of 7 per cent, it said in a release.

"The outlook also factors in increased import risks especially from Free Trade Agreement (FTA) countries such as Japan and South Korea... due to adverse domino impact of the slowing global growth and continuing trade frictions," the release said. However, Ind-Ra expects steel demand to recover in the second half of this fiscal, supported by pick up in government investments, fiscal stimulus measures, improvement in market sentiment, among others, it added.