ICRA on Wednesday revised its outlook for domestic steel demand to 7-8% for the next fiscal.
Earlier, the ratings agency had estimated the demand to grow in the range of 6–7%.
"With the central government's capex outlay in FY2024, ICRA has revised upwards its steel consumption growth estimate for FY2024 to 7-8% from 6-7%," it said in a report.
In 2023–24, the capital expenditure is budgeted at Rs 10 lakh crore, which will constitute 3.3% of GDP.
In the ongoing fiscal year, domestic steel consumption growth has also remained strong, supported by the government's push for infrastructure-led economic growth.
Jayanta Roy, senior vice president and group head of corporate sector ratings at ICRA, said, "With steel consumption expected to grow in the high-single digits next year, we expect the industry's capacity utilisation rate to improve to around 80% 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.
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