India's per capita consumption of steel has gone up by around 25% in the last five years to 57 kg in 2011 against 45.8 kg in 2007.
World Steel Association (WSA) data revealed that barring 2008, when India's steel consumption dipped to 45.1 kg against a year-ago, the growth in consumption was steady every year.
Per capita consumption of steel in India was 50 kg in 2009 and 55.4 kg in 2010.
Notwithstanding the marked improvement, India still lags far behind the world average of 214.7 kg and China's average of 459.8 kg. The average is worse when compared with other Asian peers like Japan and South Korea at 506.7 kg and 1,156.6 kg, respectively.
The Asian average stood at 238.8 in 2011. In the EU, it was 310 kg and in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) it was 212.3 kg. Per capita steel consumption was 263 kg in Nafta and 233.9 kg in the Middle East.
India's total steel consumption in 2011 was 67.8 million tonnes, up from 64.9 million tonnes a year ago, the WSA said. China's consumption was the highest at 623.9 million tonnes.
During the 10th Plan period (2002-07), both consumption and production of steel in the domestic market had witnessed fast-paced growth. The momentum was maintained in the first year of the 11th Plan period. However, the pace slowed since 2008-09 mainly because of the global economic slowdown.
The production of steel in India was 68.9 million tonnes, an increase of just two million tonnes over the previous year. However, like in 2010, it continued to hold fourth position among the major steel producing nations in the world.