The Ministry of Steel year-end performance summary for FY 2025-26, prominently highlighted in policy briefings on 7 May 2026, shows that India produced 160.9 million tonnes of finished steel during the year, a 9.7 per cent increase over the previous year, while crude steel output rose by 10.7 per cent year-on-year to about 168.4 million tonnes. Finished steel exports surged 35.8 per cent compared to the previous year, with India regaining net-exporter status, while imports fell sharply by 46.5 per cent. In March 2026 alone, steel output rose 2.2 per cent over March 2025, and the cumulative index for the full fiscal year recorded 9.1 per cent growth. India's top export destinations for finished steel in March 2026 were Vietnam, Belgium and Taiwan, together accounting for more than 50 per cent of total finished-steel exports. India's installed steel capacity stood at about 220 million tonnes per annum and remains on track for the National Steel Policy target of 300 million tonnes per annum by 2030. On the green steel front, 89 steel units were awarded green steel certification by 31 March 2026, and Tata Steel commissioned a Rs 3,200 crore scrap-based electric arc furnace green-steel plant of 0.75 million tonnes per annum capacity at Ludhiana, the first of its kind in Punjab. Major players SAIL, Tata Steel, JSW Steel, JSPL and AMNS continued capacity expansion, even as rising iron-ore and coking-coal costs pose margin pressure.