New Delhi: Established in 1989 by leading stainless steel producers, the Indian Stainless Steel 
Development Association (ISSDA) was formed with an explicit objective of diversifying the applications of stainless steel in India and increases its usage volumes in the country. At the point of formation of ISSDA, the main visible application of stainless steel in daily life was essentially household kitchenware which accounted for more than 90% of stainless usage. Today we see use of stainless steel in the Railways, Airports, Metro Coaches, Bus Shelters, Infrastructure projects, Dairy / Sugar Industry, etc is the result of innumerable efforts put by ISSDA and its member companies in creating wide spread awareness of this versatile material.
The Indian stainless steel industry has been steadily growing with a record CAGR of 11.5% in the last 10 years. Today, the stainless steel melt production has touched 3 million tons, including both flat and long products, making India the third largest producer of stainless in the world with capabilities of competing with major stainless steel producers like China, Korea, and European Union & Japan. Today the world of stainless steel is keenly watching the developments in the stainless steel sector in India.
The ISSDA, 2013 market survey report optimistically projects that the Indian Stainless Steel consumption would grow at a healthy pace to reach around 5.46 million tons by 2023. India at present is quite self sufficient in Cold Rolled and Hot Rolled Stainless Steel products with large capacity addition by SAIL, Jindal Stainless and BRG Group. The overall Cold rolled capacity is around 1.525 mn tons which is sufficient to meet the projected demand until 2018. Similarly in case of Hot Rolled products country has a capacity of 3.55 mn tons which sufficient to meet projected demand until 2020. The mother plants also supports downstream industries producing utensil grade sheets, welded pipes drawn wires, bright bar, forging units, fasteners etc.
India is today capable of producing all grades, widths and thickness of stainless steel. Industry produces plates, coils, bars and rounds with other downstream products like welded pipes, seamless tubes, mother hollows, forgings, fasteners etc. These are spread across 200, 300 and 400 series of stainless steel as well as duplex and specialized stainless steel products used in very critical areas such as nuclear power. Recently Jindal Stainless Ltd, India’s largest producer and member company of ISSDA, was selected as one of the suppliers for the prestigious International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project from among many other stainless steel manufactures clearly boosting the morale of Indian producers whose ability to produce quality products is undoubted. The domestic industry has been supplying to other critical applications like nuclear power, solar power plants, metro coaches and stations, chemicals and petrochemical complexes, fertilizer, pharma etc. The same is possible because of the modern plants using state of the art technology and employing ISO approved quality management systems. The considerable manufacturing capabilities of the domestic industry are in tandem with the “Make in India” vision laid down by the Hon’ble Prime Minister.
ISSDA and its member companies firmly believes that the potential growth of stainless steel in India is enormous, considering the fact that the per capita consumption at 1.9kg is still much lower than world average of almost 4.85kg. The per capita consumption of stainless steel has strong co-relation with per capita GDP and India is expected to achieve a sustainable growth in future. Breakthroughs in potential emerging sectors like Solar systems, Roofing, Re-bars, Nuclear power, Water treatment systems, Drinking water supply, LPG, Cylinders, Plumbing will provide further impetus to growth of Stainless Steel Industry in the country.