'Steel output set to quadruple by 2020'

India's steel production capacity will at least quadruple by 2020, catapulting the nation to the world's second-biggest maker of the alloy from the seventh position, said Tata Steel, the cpuntry's oldest steelmaker.

Should only 80 per cent of the announced expansion plans be executed, India's capacity will jump to more than 175 million metric tonnes a year by the end of next decade, up from 44 million, Amit Chatterjee, adviser to Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman, said today in a conference in Sydney.

The Steel Authority of India, Tata Steel, ArcelorMittal and Essar Steel are the among existing producers that have announced plans to add 99.4 million tonnes of capacity in the next 10 years. Per capita consumption of steel in India is 38 kg, compared with a world average of 189, Chatterjee said.

"Indian steel will be big, it will be second only to China by 2020," Chatterjee said at McCloskey Group's Australian Coal conference.

"Stringent" environmental conditions and the displacement of local communities will be the biggest challenges to the growth outlook, he said.