7.9% raises hope and confidence that adequate market growth would support the capacity enhancement in India. The question to ask is who is taking the benefit of market growth- domestic players or imports.

The answer lies in analysing the market share of each component.

During FY15 the share of imports was 12%, it went up to 14.4% in FY16. The decline in share of domestic players along with dumping of steel from China, CIS and other countries coupled with massive volume of imports flowing to India from South Korea and Japan taking advantage of progressively reducing duty rates under RCEP agreements, the intervention of the government was timely and appropriate in the form of MIP, Safeguard and AD. As a result of these interventions, the share of imports in steelAlso the various special grade steel envisaged at DPR level must be realised at the earliest in order to achieve higher realisation and take hold of the niche market.

Making available the import substituting items from the newly installed capacities would save precious foreign exchange and contribute to improving the Current Account Deficits.

Product wise during the first 5 months, in respect of HRC, the highest market share goes to JSW , followed by Tata Steel. For Rebars, the highest share (65%) goes to SME sector followed by Tata, JSW and SAIL.

It is well established that in long products (TMT, Structurals and Railway materials) the share of SME sector is predominant at 65%. In the flat product category, the highest share is taken by JSW followed by Tata and by