1. Can India Sustain a Long-Term Steel Supercycle?
2. Economic Growth, Consumption Trends and China Comparisons
3. Global Steel Cycle & India's Positioning: Capital, Competitiveness and the Next Investment Wave
1. How is India positioned in the evolving global steel landscape, and what will drive the journey towards the 300 MnT vision by 2030?
2. Can domestic steel capacity expansion and supply chains keep pace with rising demand from infrastructure, urbanisation, railways, defence, and renewable energy sectors?
3. Growing capacity & self-sufficiency — how can India strengthen raw material security, reduce import dependence, and enhance global competitiveness? The raw material challenge — ensuring availability, quality, and cost competitiveness for iron ore, coking coal, scrap, and pellets.
4. Value-added & specialty steel — opportunities in domestic demand, exports, and advanced manufacturing.
5. How will policy support, specialty steel growth, decarbonisation, CBAM, and technology transition reshape India’s steel industry and export opportunities in the next growth cycle?
1. Demand-supply outlook for key steelmaking raw materials - iron ore & coal
2. Resource security challenges amid rising steel capacity additions
3. Logistics and evacuation infrastructure requirements
4. Impact of decarbonization on future raw material procurement strategies
1. How will Simandou’s phased ramp-up reshape seaborne iron ore supply dynamics?
2. How are China’s steel production curbs cascading into shifts in iron ore demand?
3. Is the growing acceptance of Fe 61% fines redefining traditional pricing benchmarks?
4. Global dearth of high-grade ore - how are mills adapting to new feedstock strategies amid changing raw material specifications, economics and quality preferences?
1. Export curbs and their impact on global scrap trade.
2. Can India secure imports amid intensifying buyer competition?
3. Freight volatility and changing import economics.
4. Alternative origins: opportunity or necessity?
5. Will imported scrap prices remain structurally elevated?
6. Evolving procurement strategies in a volatile market.
1. Are quality constraints in domestic iron ore becoming a key bottleneck for efficient steel production?
2. Evolving technologies, decarbonisation and outlook on iron ore grade depletion
3. Can infrastructure upgrades, slurry pipelines, and supportive policies reduce inter-regional dependence and improve supply efficiency?
4. How are regional imbalances—surplus in eastern India versus deficits in western and southern markets—impacting iron ore trade flows?
1. Power demand outlook & industrial growth, urbanisation, and extreme weather patterns
2. Will coal continue to dominate India’s power generation mix well after 2030?
3. How significant is the production ramp-up from domestic miners and commercial coal mining in meeting rising demand?
4. Bridging quality gaps in domestic coal supply and imports
5. India & global thermal coal trade dynamics
1. Is the rapid rise in pellet capacity translating into optimal utilisation or overcapacity?
2. Is the pellet market structurally shifting from an export-led model to a domestic demand-driven one?
3. Increasing dependence on beneficiation and utilisation of lower-grade ore?
4. How competitive are imported pellets compared to domestic in terms of cost and quality?
1. How effective are government initiatives in enhancing domestic coking coal production?
2. Is commercial mining and increased private sector participation a game changer for India’s coal sector?
3. Coal washing economics in India - quality and usability of Indian coking coal
4. Coal washing technologies & suitability for Indian coal
1. Women’s representation in the steel ecosystem and why it needs to grow.
2. The barriers women still face in a male-dominated industry and what helps them move ahead.
3. The role of mentors, allies, and workplace culture in enabling career growth.
4. What men and women in the industry can do to build a more inclusive leadership pipeline.
1. What are the key AI use cases across blast furnaces, rolling mills, and casting processes?
2. How can AI enable real-time process control and parameter optimisation in steel production?
3. In what ways will AI drive quality optimisation, defect reduction, energy efficiency, and cost savings?
4. How will AI-powered supply chain and logistics intelligence reshape steel industry competitiveness?
5. How will AI optimize fuel/raw material mixes to cut costs?
6. How will AI enable dynamic sourcing, inventory planning, and real-time balancing of cost, quality, and emissions?
1. NMDC's roadmap and key mine expansion projects
2. NMDC's approach to iron ore pricing amid volatile domestic and global markets
3. Challenges and opportunities in supporting India's ambition of reaching 300 MT steel capacity by 2030
1. Global positioning of India in alloy steel
2. Current capacity, production & consumption of India's alloy steel industry
3. Demand outlook till 2030
4. Capacity expansion plans
1. Is domestic iron ore production scaling up in line with rising demand? Focus on ramp-up plans of major miners.
2. How is the balance between merchant and captive mining evolving, and what does it mean for market availability and pricing?
3. Has beneficiation and pelletisation become a necessity rather than a choice in addressing quality and supply constraints?
1. How are mining companies approaching capacity expansion, and what role does integration strategy play in securing long-term competitiveness?
2. To what extent can domestic supply effectively cater to the rising iron ore demand in western and central India?
3. How are steelmakers leveraging customised burden mix strategies to optimise cost and operational efficiency?
1. Green steel taxonomy, methodologies & system boundaries – a unified MRV system for India
2. Green steel definitions – global convergences and differences
3. Border carbon taxes & the case for a global green steel methodology
4. Green procurement, CCTS & evolving demand for green steel
5. Sector-wise mapping of low-CO2 steel demand
1. Import diversification and strategic overseas acquisitions — key to ensuring long-term coking coal supply security for India’s steel industry.
2. The premium coal market & emerging global supply threats — how are Indian steelmakers responding through blending strategies, contracts, and hedging mechanisms?
3. Can domestic met coke production and capacity expansion keep pace with rising blast furnace demand amid growing import dependence and anti-dumping duties (ADD)?
4. Coke quality concerns, raw material optimisation, and the role of technology in improving blending efficiency and cost competitiveness.
5. Global met coke trade dynamics — rising captive capacity vs. merchant production, and whether Indonesia has emerged as a competitive and reliable supplier for India.
1. Policy support, supply stabilisation and the threat of grade deterioration – how will industry respond?
2. How has the MMDR Amendment act & auction regime impacted supply stability and price discovery in the iron ore market?
3. India’s own National Mineral e-Exchange – will it address issues related to transparency in pricing and reporting?
4. High regulatory mining costs & need for rationalisation
1. Are ongoing and planned port capacity additions sufficient to meet future trade and cargo handling requirements?
2. What are the key evacuation infrastructure challenges limiting efficient movement from ports to hinterlands?
3. Can coastal shipping emerge as a viable solution to decongest rail and road networks?
4. How can private participation and PPP models accelerate port development and improve efficiency?
1. Can India shift from steel volume growth to value leadership through decarbonisation?
2. What are the BATs in mining and steelmaking to cut emissions?
3. How viable are disruptive technologies like hydrogen steelmaking, CCUS, and renewable integration for India’s steel sector?
4. Makeshift, transitional & deep decarbonisation technologies
1. Comparing India with China, Japan, Korea and Europe
2. Exploring new markets & export opportunities for Indian alloy steel players
3. Cost competitiveness & ESG compliance against global peers
1. DRI-led, scrap-intensive, or hybrid: what will define India’s future metallic mix?
2. Can scrap availability match India’s steel capacity expansion?
3. Will quality steel demand increase the share of processed scrap?
4. Are rising costs and regulations weakening DRI’s advantage?
5. Optimising the DRI-scrap mix: yield, productivity, and cost
1. What are the key drivers of freight rate volatility—demand swings, fleet availability, or port congestion?
2. How will IMO decarbonisation regulations reshape shipping costs and fleet dynamics?
3. What impact are geopolitical conflicts and sanctions having on global shipping routes and trade flows?
1. Passenger vehicles and commercial vehicles outlook
2. EV penetration impact
3. High-strength alloy steel requirements
4. OEM procurement strategies
1. Contracting practices across automotive, engineering and industrial sectors
2. Need for transparent market references for contract settlements
3. Best practices for sharing raw material risks between buyers and suppliers
4. Roadmap towards greater transparency and liquidity in alloy steel markets.
1. What opportunities exist in high-strength rails, wheels, axles, bogies, couplers, and freight wagon components?
2. How are requirements evolving for armoured vehicles, naval vessels, artillery systems, missiles, and aerospace defence equipment?
3. How can Indian manufacturers integrate into global aerospace supply chains?
1. Which special steel grades are still largely imported?
2. What supply chain vulnerabilities could impact India's manufacturing ambitions?
3. Which steel grades used in defence, aerospace, railways and energy sectors are still imported?
4. What technological upgrades are required for domestic production?