India’s steel industry is struggling to produce enough of the specialized grades used in oil and gas pipelines, leaving pipe makers such as Jindal SAW Ltd dependent on imports, said Sminu Jindal, managing director of the pipe maker.
Jindal SAW sources 35–40% of its specialized steel from countries including South Korea and China, depending on pricing and availability.
“Indian steel market doesn't really produce a lot of steel for higher API applications,” Jindal said in an interview to Mint. “I wish the steel makers do make better high-grade API steel. So we don't have to do it and we can actually sell a product that is completely made in India.”
The reliance on imports comes as India turned a net importer of finished steel. Provisional data from the Joint Plant Committee (JPC) showed finished steel imports rose 49.2% year-on-year to 2.064 million tonnes (mt) during April-June (Q1FY27), while exports rose 31.4% to 1.593 mt, making India a net importer for the quarter.
Mint reported on 22 June that domestic manufacturers continue to rely on imports from China, Japan and South Korea for certain critical-grade steel used in oil and gas pipelines. These grades are either not produced domestically or have not yet received the required certifications from end users, Dhruv Goel, chief executive of commodities market intelligence firm BigMint, told Mint earlier.
The volume problem
Domestic steelmakers have begun developing these specialised grades, but volumes remain too small to make them commercially competitive, Jindal said. Companies such as JSW Steel and JSPL have been supplying some of these grades to Jindal SAW, while AM/NS India has also recently developed grades such as X100.
“If you do not have the volume, then the pricing is also high,” Jindal said, referring to specialized steel production.
Domestic mills still do not produce some of the higher grades, including N60, N65 and other specialized grades required by the pipe industry, she said.
For Jindal SAW, the preference would be to source the steel locally if the required grades were available at competitive prices. But the economics of imports remain more attractive.
“For us, it makes more sense to import and export because that way we save a lot of duties and it helps us survive better,” she said.
The company has no fixed target for reducing its import dependence because the availability of specialized steel is largely outside its control. “It's something which is beyond my control. So, I have not put a target to it.”
That dependence is likely to remain a constraint for the company as it balances its international business with an uncertain global environment.
The company's international business is facing disruption from the ongoing conflict in West Asia. “Unfortunately shipping and the way the logistics have turned out are not very productive that way for Jindal SAW. Therefore, we have seen a lot of delays in the project,” Jindal said.
She expects the disruption to eventually create new opportunities as West Asian countries look to build alternative routes and strengthen their oil and gas infrastructure.
Jindal expects the global pipe industry to grow faster than the broader economy, with demand across oil, gas and water expected to rise 5–8%, compared with global GDP growth of around 2–3%.
Jindal SAW currently gets around 60% of its business from the water industry and about 40% from oil and gas. The mix could change if more oil and gas projects emerge in India.
Sminu Jindal, daughter of Prithviraj Jindal and granddaughter of the late industrialist Om Prakash Jindal and Savitri Jindal, is part of the third generation of the Jindal family’s business leadership. Prithviraj oversees Jindal SAW, while his brothers Sajjan, Ratan and Naveen Jindal head JSW Group, Jindal Stainless and Jindal Steel, respectively.
Spending caution
With uncertainty around the West Asia conflict, Jindal SAW is taking a cautious approach to capital expenditure.
“We do not know how the war shapes up. So, everybody is trying to conserve as much cash at this moment, as much as possible,” Jindal said.
Jindal SAW has outlined capital expenditure of ₹500–600 crore for FY27, Vinay Kumar Gupta, president and head of treasury at Jindal SAW, told analysts in April during a post-earnings interaction.
Jindal SAW shares have gained 60.10% year-to-date, outperforming the benchmark Nifty 50, which fell 6.96% over the same period,
In FY26, the company reported a 14% fall in revenue from operations to ₹17,895 crore from a year earlier, while net profit fell 40% to ₹973.35 crore.
Jindal SAW has overall manufacturing capacity of more than 3.5 million tonnes per annum across its SAW pipes, ductile iron pipes and fittings, carbon/alloy steel seamless pipes, and stainless-steel seamless and welded pipes and tubes businesses. In addition, the company has a 1.65 million tonnes per annum pelletization facility at Bhilwara, Rajasthan.