Admitting that the stagnating growth rate of stainless steel in the last few years had proved wrong all the forecasts made earlier on demand pattern, joint development commissioner of iron and steel SK Sinha said, "It cannot remain like this. World average consumption of stainless steel is growing at a rate of 4 per cent per annum. One should expect a reasonable annual growth rate of 5 per cent in India."

In 1997-98, India produced about 5,50,000 tonnes of stainless steel.According to the projections, Indian producers would produce 7,01,615 tonnes of stainless steel, while market demand by 1999-2000 would be around 8,14,500 tonnes.

The major market demand would be in appliances and utensils sector which is expected to consume 7,30,000 tonnes,followed by chemicals and fertilisers sector 28,000 tonnes, pipes and tubes 10,000 tonnes, dairy and food processing 9,200 tonnes, power and transport sector 9,000 tonnes, heavy engineering 8,300 tonnes, building and architecture 4,000 tonnes, railways 1,000 tonnes and coinage and others 15,000 tonnes.

The consumption pattern of stainless steel in India is 80 per cent for utensil in domestic sector and only 20 per cent in industrial sector. This is exactly opposite to the consumption pattern of the developed countries. The per capita consumption in India is around 0.6 to 0.3kg per year compared with 25 to 26 kg per man per year in Japan and about 6.5kg per man per year in some other countries.

"There is a tremendous scope for growth in the consumption of stainless steel in India, both in domestic and industrial sectors," Sinha said.He feels that attractive opportunities exist for increased stainless steel consumption in the industrial sector in India and they have to be suitably tapped.

It would havesimilar applications as it had in developed countries, he said.In India domestic utensil sector consumes 79.9 per cent of stainless steel, while the world average is 36.5 per cent and the remaining is used in industrial sector.

Steel ministry with the cooperation of the industry has launched a campaign to promote stainless steel consumption in the country. Steel ministry has also sponsored a study to ascertain the status and future of the stainless steel industry in the country. Around Rs 140 crore has been earmarked for research and development in steel industry annually.

A major hindrance for the growth of domestic consumption is its high price. Some of the Indian manufacturers are busy in developing low nickel, copper or aluminum bearing stainless steel. Because of the minimum nickel content, domestic articles made from such grades of stainless steel would be cheaper and can be popularised at an affordable price.

The transportation sector in the country is showing increasing interest in usingstainless steel. The Integral Coach Factory in Tamil Nadu has made prototype shell design of a rail car using 3.6 tonnes of various grades of stainless steel for corrosion-prone components such as sole bar, body pillars and trough floor.

The Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala in Punjab has tied up with a German company to manufacture coaches with stainless steel skin and roof. The railways have also tendered for 3,000 tonnes of stainless steel for fabrication of 300 coal wagons.

Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Jhansi is negotiating with US-based consultants to manufacture all stainless steel electrical multiple units (EMUs).

In the automobile sector, stainless steel would find greater application in exhaust pipes and manifolds, bumpers, decorative trims, clamp fittings, wheels caps and windscreen wipers. The usage of stainless steel in architecture, building and construction sector is all set to grow in the years to come. The `SS 304' type has been accepted by many leading architects and buildings arecoming with the usage of such type of steel.

Fabricators are installing large domes out of stainless steel tubulars with glass brick filling. The stacks, trolleys and storage areas would also utilise stainless steel for such buildings. In addition, the handrails, cafeteria and other facilities would be in stainless steel. The usage of signage, door-window frames, door handles, elevator cars, entrance gate, interior decoration, sculpture all are likely to come from stainless steel in near future.