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Common world opinion is that India is on the threshold of becoming a developed country and that it will be a global power by 2020 if it continues on the development path of the past few years. It is also an established fact that steel plays an important part in a nation's development and per capita steel consumption is considered a good indicator of industrial development. What, then, is the ground reality in India?... First, the current per capita steel consumption in India, at a dismal 29 kg, is only at the level of an under-developed country, let alone a developing one. Generally, depending on land area and population, developing countries have 50 to 250 kg per capita consumption. Second, the current proportion of flat to long product consumption in India, at about 55% to 45% is alarmingly tilted towards the flat products and is a consumption pattern normally found in near developed countries. These two facts are significant and indicate that we have very small pockets of high..