India's top six steel firms, including SAIL and Tata Steel, have contributed 58 per cent to the 84.420 million tonnes (MT) crude steel produced in the country during the April-January period of this fiscal, according to the Joint Plant Committee (JPC). The six companies -- public sector SAIL and RINL, and private sector firms Tata Steel, Essar, JSW and JSPL — jointly produced 48.71 million tonnes during the ten-month period, the data compiled by JPC showed. "SAIL, RINL, TSL, Essar, JSWL and JSPL together produced 48.718 MT this period which was a growth of 6.3 per cent over the same period of last year.
The rest i.e. 35.70 MT came from the other producers, which was a growth of 1.5 per cent over same period of last year," it said. Empowered by the Ministry of Steel, the JPC is the only institution in the country which collects and maintains data on the Indian iron and steel industry. State-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) produced 12.350 MT and 3.830 MT, respectively, during the ten-month period, the data showed. While SAIL had produced 12.052 MT crude steel during the same period a year ago, RINL's output was 3.253 MT. Tata Steel Ltd (TSL) produced 10.522 MT during April- January of the ongoing fiscal, up 9.9 per cent from 9.575 MT the firm had produced in the year-ago-period. Essar Steel Ltd, JSWL and JSPL jointly made 22.016 MT as against 20.965 MT in April-January of 2016-17. India is the third largest producer of crude steel in the world after China and Japan. In 2017, India's crude steel production rose nearly 6 per cent to hit an all-time high of 101.28 MT. The country is now aiming to grab the second spot, overtaking Japan.