Is colour coming back to steel - 2016: India’s hope floats amidst global steel gloom The over US-100-billion Indian steel industry is placing bets on rising domestic demand in the new year as it tries to counter predatory pricing and import glut that haunted it in 2015. Amidst subdued demand and the spectre of China flooding global markets with cheaper products, analysts predict a tough 2016 for the industry worldwide but expect India to remain more profitable than its Asian peers, helped by higher domestic economic growth and rising demand. Steel Insights’ Cover Story explores Cover Story: The industry hopes the New Year will bring new cheer. The last seven years saw two business cycles. The first saw a market crash in 2008 but the recovery was fast. However, this time, recovery has been slower. The difference between 2008 and 2015-2016 is that in the former recovery was driven by Chinese demand… This time around, Chinese demand does not seem to be staging a comeback Feature: Financial results of steel manufacturers are expected to remain flat in Q3, according to a number of analysts. This is mainly because of subdued demand and discounted price of steel, both in the global and local markets Feature: The steel industry is yet to see a pick-up. Thus, JSW Steel currently plans to focus more on brownfield projects rather than greenfield ones. Also watch out for our regular sections on coking coal prices, ferro alloys and corporates.