Compared to the countries around the world, India has one of the lowest per capita use of Steel. At 70.9 Kg it is marginally lower than other developing countries such as Brazil and also significantly behind large, fast growing economies such as China. However, one thing is common across all the countries that have relatively higher per capita consumption of steel. It’s the growing use of steel in construction, especially composite construction in infrastructure, buildings and transportation.

The shift to modern construction from RCC to composite steel structure buildings in India has been relatively low until recently. This can be largely attributed to the volatile steel prices and push from the policy. However, over the last few years, market forces, policy push, talent pool and business intent seem to have converged to fuel use of composite and steel structures across various applications.

Several trends indicate the use of greater use of steel in construction in India over the next few years:

• Inherent advantages of steel drive growth Corrosion resistance, higher strength-to-weight ratio, and a low life cycle cost (LCC) with minimal maintenance requirement,
• The government has sanctioned around 1,100 FOB projects using Steel with nearly 300 in the pipeline
• RDSO – the body defining standards for Railway infrastructure introduces a policy to steel girders for railway bridges, over all other types
• The Government plans to establish about 100 airports with steel intensive construction in the next 10 to `15 years at an estimated cost of Rs 4 lakh crore, 70 of these will be at new locations while the rest will be second airports or expansion of existing airfields to handle commercial flights.
• India’s high-rise building market, built with extensive use of composite construction, is growing and expanding across cities.
• 12 Cities in India are collectively expected to add about 500 Kms of Metro Rail in the next 5-7 years
• India continues to be one of the fastest growing PEB market around the world
• Composite construction is preferred for Green Buildings in IT/ITeS, commercial buildings, Healthcare facilities and also large structures such as Stadiums

Conclusion

With the need for faster, safer, environment friendly construction, Steel has a bright and growing future in construction industry. The use of composite steel construction is gaining popularity. Shear Connector Studs are a key element in the composite construction and is therefore like to see a growth in demand. Given the high price sensitivity of Indian market, high-quality Shear Connector Studs manufactured and supplied from central locations will be economical as compared to the imported options. Artech has been manufacturing a full range of shear connector studs for over 10 years now. See how these compare with other leading manufacturers here.