AI in Steel: From Vision to Action
At the heart of the roadmap is the AI in Steel Pavilion, a first-of-its-kind collaborative platform designed as a problem-to-solution marketplace. Unlike conventional exhibitions, the Pavilion showcases real-time industry challenges and invites AI startups, technology firms, and research institutions to co-create scalable solutions. The focus spans mining, logistics, production, safety, quality assurance, sustainability, and marketing, marking a shift from pilot projects to systemic AI integration.
Industry-Startup Convergence
A high-level session brought together steel producers, iron ore miners, policymakers, and AI innovators to deliberate on digital priorities. Industry leaders highlighted operational challenges such as reducing downtime, improving yield, enhancing worker safety, optimizing raw material blending, lowering emissions, and strengthening demand forecasting. AI firms responded with readiness to deploy predictive maintenance algorithms, computer vision systems, supply chain optimization models, and intelligent decision support tools. This structured dialogue is expected to accelerate innovation cycles and ensure rapid adoption of AI solutions across the sector.
Growth Momentum and Strategic Expansion
India’s steel consumption has nearly doubled from 77 MT in 2014-15 to 152 MT in 2024-25, driven by infrastructure expansion, urbanization, and manufacturing growth. National initiatives in railways, highways, housing, renewable energy, defence, and industrial corridors have reinforced steel’s role in nation building.
Looking ahead, the Ministry has set clear benchmarks: crude steel capacity will rise from the current 200 MT to 300 MT by 2030-31, and further to 400 MT by 2035-36. This expansion will require intelligent capacity utilization, real-time monitoring, efficient energy management, decarbonisation strategies, and optimized capital deployment. AI is positioned as a strategic enabler to ensure productivity, quality, safety, and sustainability scale alongside capacity growth.
Support for Startups and Innovation
Industry leaders emphasized the need for AI solutions tailored to Indian operating conditions, including domain-specific customization, scalable architectures, cybersecurity resilience, and multilingual interfaces for workforce adoption. The Ministry invited innovators to leverage the Steel Research and Technology Mission of India as a live sandbox environment, offering one of the largest industrial AI opportunity landscapes in the country.
The roadmap underscores that the future of Indian steel will be shaped as much by algorithms as by metallurgy. As India expands capacity to meet domestic aspirations and global demand, digital intelligence will determine efficiency, resilience, and competitiveness. The Ministry’s message was clear: the next era of Indian steel will be forged in furnaces and powered by data.
