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On the basis of size, scale of operations and the level of integration, steel makers are categorised into
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Integrated Steel Plants (ISPs) or primary producers
These have manufacturing facilities right from the iron ore stage to the finished steel stage. Major ISPs in India include Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) and Vizag Steel (VSP).
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ISPs like TISCO, RINL, SAIL use the blast furnace route for manufacturing steel. They either sell cooled hot metal (called pig iron) or refine it further in the steel melting shops using open hearth or BOF or LD converters. The output of the steel melting shops is crude steel which is then rolled further into ingots or billets or into value-added finished steel products like bars and rods, hot rolled sheets and coils, cold rolled sheets and coils.
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The ISPs are pre-dominantly government controlled with the exception of TISCO. Production processes are outdated and consequently production costs have remained high. Steel majors like SAIL and TISCO are spending massive amounts for modernising their existing facilities.
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SAIL is the largest ISP in India with a capacity of over 10 m tpa of salable steel spread over 4 plants. TISCO comes a distant second with a capacity of 3.2 m tpa.
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The mini-steel segments comprises mainly EAF and induction furnace units, apart from other manufacturing units. These units use scrap and sponge iron such as raw materials to produce steel. The newer mini-steel plants are larger than the older ones.
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The demand for steel is derived from other sectors like automobiles, consumer durables and infrastructure. Being a core sector, it tracks the overall economic growth.
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