ICRA revised its stand from ‘stable’ to ‘positive’ for the domestic steel sector, as all major listed steel companies have delivered healthy financial performance during the April-June 2021 quarter. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, ICRA had assigned a ‘negative’ outlook on the sector expecting a record fall of 20% in domestic steel demand during the financial year ended March 2021.
ICRA issued a statement saying “It has revised the steel sector’s outlook to ‘positive’ from ‘stable’ following all large listed steel companies reporting their best-ever quarterly performance in Q1 (April-June period) of financial year 2022, and the earnings outlook remaining healthy for the remaining months of FY2022.”
Jayanta Roy, senior Vice-President and group head (corporate sector ratings) of ICRA, said, “After a seven per cent contraction in steel demand in last year following the pandemic, we expect domestic consumption to grow at around 12% in the current fiscal.”