Icra revises domestic steel demand outlook to 8 pc for FY24

Icra on Wednesday revised its outlook for domestic steel demand to 7-8 per cent for the next fiscal.

Earlier, the ratings agency had estimated the demand to grow in the range of 6-7 per cent.

''With the central government's capex outlay in FY2024, Icra has revised upwards its steel consumption growth estimate for FY2024 to 7-8 per cent from 6-7 per cent,'' it said in a report.

In 2023-24, the capital expenditure is budgeted at Rs 10 lakh crore which will constitute 3.3 per cent of GDP.

In the ongoing fiscal also, the domestic steel consumption growth has remained strong supported by the government's push for infrastructure-led economic growth. Jayanta Roy, Senior Vice-President & Group Head - Corporate Sector Ratings at ICRA, said, ''With steel consumption expected to grow in high-single digits next year, we expect the industry's capacity utilisation rate to improve to around 80 per cent in FY2024, despite the commissioning of some new expansion projects.'' The consumption of finished steel in India was 107.20 million tonne during April-February of FY23.