New Delhi [India], September 21 (ANI): India has a large domestic steel market and can sustain its steel industry without depending on exports to the United States, Jindal Steel Chairman and Member of Parliament Naveen Jindal said on Monday, asserting that higher US tariffs would have limited impact on Indian steel producers.
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the 53rd National Management Convention 2026, Jindal said Indian steel products had already faced high tariffs in the US market for several years.
"A lot of products in steel already have more than 200% tariff for more than a decade. So US could put 100% or 200% on steel. It doesn't help. Even with 50%, when it was 50%, we were not exporting any steel to the US. So India is a very big market in itself and we can do without USA," he said.
The remarks come as the United States continues to impose an additional 50 per cent tariff on most imported steel products under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act.
On domestic demand, Jindal said India's infrastructure development and relatively low per-capita steel consumption offered significant room for the industry to expand.
"So steel per capita consumption is still quite low. It's just about 107 kg per person per annum compared to world average which is more than 220. So there's a huge scope to grow," he said.
According to an August 2026 press release by the Ministry of Steel, India's finished steel consumption rose 7.9 per cent year-on-year to 56 million tonnes during April-July 2026, while crude steel production stood at 56.2 million tonnes.
The Ministry has said the National Steel Policy 2017 envisages crude steel production capacity of 300 million tonnes and actual production of 255 million tonnes by 2030-31.
On the European Union's Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Jindal said Indian companies would have to comply with the rules applicable in the European market.
"If they have put these conditions on their own producers, right? So obviously they will put these conditions on imports also. So they cannot disadvantage their own industry. So we understand that and whatever their rules are, you know, we have to play by those rules," he said.
Jindal also highlighted the importance of reducing India's dependence on imported natural gas through greater use of domestic coal gasification.
"Obviously a lot of natural gas is required by many industries and so we worked on coal gasification and that's why government is also encouraging gasification of domestic coal," he said.
According to a July 2026 press release by the Ministry of Coal, around 22.6 million tonnes per annum of coal gasification capacity was operational or under implementation in India, including about 8 million tonnes per annum of operational capacity at Jindal Steel Limited.
On green steel, Jindal said steelmakers were working towards reducing emissions.
"Every steel maker is working on reducing their emissions and we all feel it's our duty to do that and everybody is working on achieving that," he said. (ANI)
India can do without US steel market amid high tariffs, says Naveen Jindal
