Stainless Steel for a Viksit Bharat: Sustainability, quality, and shared prosperity

March 26, 2026

By Mr Vijay Sharma, Director – Corporate Affairs, Jindal Stainless

The world has moved beyond the era of VUCA (volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity) into one defined by BANI (brittle, anxious, non-linear, and incomprehensible). Global industries, including steel and stainless steel, now operate in a landscape shaped by rapid technological change, geopolitical shifts, and unprecedented black swan events such as COVID-19, escalating conflicts, and large-scale natural calamities. Yet, these challenges also open avenues for reinvention and leadership.

For industries willing to adapt, foresight, resilience, and innovation are no longer just safeguards but pathways to sustainable growth and global competitiveness. Against this backdrop, the stainless steel industry is well-positioned to leverage its inherent strengths, and, with greater emphasis on key strategic pillars, is poised to take its contribution to nation-building to the next level.

Sustainability: Fuelling a Viksit Bharat

Sustainability goes beyond carbon neutrality, and is not merely a compliance requirement anymore. It is a strategic differentiator shaping India’s industrial future.

Deemed as a ‘wonder metal’, Stainless steel’s lifecycle aligns seamlessly with India’s net-zero ambitions, positioning quality as a cornerstone of progress, and reinforcing the country’s role as a manufacturing powerhouse. Its corrosion resistance, recyclability, and long lifecyle help reduce costs across critical infrastructure, including bridges, metro systems, water pipelines, public health facilities, and many more.

From a triple bottom line (3BL) perspective, stainless steel delivers value on three fronts: Planet, by adopting low-carbon technologies such as scrap recycling and renewable energy integration; People, by providing safer, more reliable, and longer-lasting material that supports public welfare; and Prosperity, by enabling higher-value specialty solutions.

As more countries focus on green steel production, and with India steadily strengthening its decarbonisation leadership, stainless steel is poised to help the country move up the value chain while delivering durable, cost-efficient solutions that stand the test of time.

At Jindal Stainless, we are actively collaborating with stakeholders to combat corrosion, provide customised measures, and scale our environmental commitments. With renewable energy set to meet over 30% of our energy needs and a clear roadmap to cut 50% of CO₂ emissions by 2035 & achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, our goal is to shape a stronger, cleaner, and greener tomorrow.

Leading with a quality-mindset

Quality remains the cornerstone of global competitiveness for all industries. Substandard input materials don’t merely threaten a nation’s safety and lead to economic loss; they undermine long-term investment confidence.

In this context, robust standards, firm policies, and frameworks like Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) play a pivotal role in ensuring consumer trust and public safety. The recent Quality Control initiatives on steel products introduced by the government are also a welcome step to curb substandard imports. They embody our commitment to building an India where growth and quality advance together, where standards aren’t negotiable, and where our industrial foundation can support the weight of our ambitions.

Level-playing field

Our domestic steel and stainless steel manufacturers have invested substantially in technology and quality systems over the year. They follow BIS protocols, maintain sophisticated testing laboratories, and employ qualified metallurgists. These investments create competitive disadvantages when facing imports that circumvent equivalent quality safeguards.

The dumping of substandard material of Chinese origin destabilises the domestic industry. Recognising these risks, most producing nations across the world have already imposed tariff barriers on China, given its non-WTO-compliant subsidies. Tackling this challenge is key to maintaining a robust and resilient domestic stainless steel sector.

Equally important is the need for securing raw materials. India currently lacks domestic availability of nickel, while the supply of chrome ore remains insufficient to meet the growing demands of stainless steel. Facilitating backward integration for nickel and promoting investment in domestic chrome mining must be encouraged, to ensure that producers have access to affordable, high-quality inputs necessary for the long-term strength of the industry.

While the government’s safeguard duties for steel have offered some protection, similar support for stainless steel is urgently needed. Given the sector’s critical role in infrastructure and industrial development, a dedicated National Stainless Steel Policy (NSSP) framework would provide the focused guidance required to ensure sustainable growth and global competitiveness.

Taking the ecosystem along

The strength of any industry lies in the ecosystem that supports it. For stainless steel, advancing to the next level requires a holistic environment that empowers fabricators, MSMEs, students, and young professionals by nurturing skills, fostering partnerships, and encouraging innovation. Initiatives like Jindal Stainless’ Stainless Academy exemplify this approach. Through the Academy, we have provided relevant training and skill development to over 53,000 fabricators across the country, and this effort continues to expand, building a resilient and future-ready stainless steel ecosystem. We have also been collaborating with academia to advance research, enable training, and introduce curriculum focused on stainless steel.

We, at Jindal Stainless, have also been dedicating efforts on enabling ease of doing business for our partners, anticipating their need for faster, transparent, and efficient services. Digital transformation has been central to this effort. Initiatives such as our B2B E-Commerce Portal, Stainless Mart, allow customers to book orders online, track order status, invoices, and payments seamlessly. Project Pragati, another digital transformation example, leverages virtual twin and digital manufacturing technologies to optimise production in real-time—allocating inventory or scheduling processes from casting to finishing—accelerating decision-making, minimising downtime, and setting new benchmarks for productivity.

In a world defined by global uncertainties and unexpected disruptions, India’s stainless steel industry has a clear roadmap: embed sustainability, uphold uncompromising quality, ensure a level-playing field, and nurture the broader ecosystem. Anchored on these pillars, stainless steel can not only strengthen India’s infrastructure and industrial base but also fuel the nation’s aspiration of a Viksit Bharat, built on durability, innovation, and global competitiveness.