![Tata Steel at Night](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6e/Tata_Steel_at_Night.jpg)
The iron and steel industry in India is among the most important industries within the country.
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
surpassed
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
as the
second largest steel producer in January 2019. As per ''worldsteel'', India's crude
steel
Steel is an alloy made up of iron with added carbon to improve its strength and fracture resistance compared to other forms of iron. Many other elements may be present or added. Stainless steels that are corrosion- and oxidation-resistant ty ...
production in 2018 was at 106.5 tonnes (MT), 4.9% increase from 101.5 MT in 2017, means that India overtook Japan as the world's second largest steel production country. Japan produced 104.3 MT in year 2018, decrease of 0.3% compared to year 2017. Industry produced 82.68 million tons of total finished steel and 9.7 million tons of
raw iron. Most of the iron and steel in India is produced from
iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
.
Policy for the sector is governed by the Indian
Ministry of Steel
The Ministry of Steel is an executive branch agency of the Government of India that is responsible for formulating all policies regarding steel production, distribution and pricing in India. As of July 2021, the ministry is headed by a Secretary ...
, which concerns itself with coordinating and planning the growth and development of the
iron
Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in f ...
and steel industry, both in the public and private sectors; formulation of policies concerning production, pricing, distribution, import and export of iron and steel,
ferro alloys and
refractories
In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...
; and the development of input industries relating to iron ore,
manganese
Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy use ...
ore,
chrome ore and
refractories
In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...
, etc., required mainly by the steel industry.
Most of the
public sector undertakings
A state-owned enterprise (SOE) is a government entity which is established or nationalised by the ''national government'' or ''provincial government'' by an executive order or an act of legislation in order to earn profit for the governmen ...
market their steel through the
Steel Authority of India
Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a central public sector undertaking based in New Delhi, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India with an annual turnover of INR 1,03,480 Crore (US$13 billion) for fisc ...
(SAIL).
The Indian steel industry was de-licensed and de-controlled in 1991 and 1992 respectively.
Steel plants
There are two types of steel plants - mini steel plants and integrated steel plants. About half of the country's steel is produced by medium and small enterprises.
Mini steel plants are smaller, have
electric furnaces and use steel scrap as well as
sponge iron
Direct reduced iron (DRI), also called sponge iron, is produced from the direct reduction of iron ore (in the form of lumps, pellets, or fines) into iron by a reducing gas or elemental carbon produced from natural gas or coal. Many ores are suit ...
. They have re-rollers that use steel ingots as well. They produce
Carbon steel
Carbon steel is a steel with carbon content from about 0.05 up to 2.1 percent by weight. The definition of carbon steel from the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) states:
* no minimum content is specified or required for chromium, cobalt ...
and
Alloy Steel
Alloy steel is steel that is alloyed with a variety of elements in total amounts between 1.0% and 50% by weight to improve its mechanical properties. Alloy steels are broken down into two groups: low alloy steels and high alloy steels. The differe ...
of certain specifications. There are around 650 mini steel plants in India.
Integrated steel plants are large, handle everything in one complex - from putting together raw material to steel making, rolling, and shaping.
Iron ore
Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...
,
coke, and
flux
Flux describes any effect that appears to pass or travel (whether it actually moves or not) through a surface or substance. Flux is a concept in applied mathematics and vector calculus which has many applications to physics. For transport ph ...
are fed into the
blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...
and heated. The coke reduces the
iron oxide
Iron oxides are chemical compounds composed of iron and oxygen. Several iron oxides are recognized. All are black magnetic solids. Often they are non-stoichiometric. Oxyhydroxides are a related class of compounds, perhaps the best known of whic ...
in the ore to metallic iron, and the molten mass separates into
slag
Slag is a by-product of smelting (pyrometallurgical) ores and used metals. Broadly, it can be classified as ferrous (by-products of processing iron and steel), ferroalloy (by-product of ferroalloy production) or non-ferrous/base metals (by-prod ...
and iron. Some of the iron from the blast furnace is cooled, and marketed as
pig iron
Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...
; the rest flows into basic oxygen furnaces, where it is converted into steel. Iron and steel scrap may be added to both the
blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...
and to the basic iron furnace. There are about five integrated SAIL plants in India.
Steel plants in India.
There are more than 50 iron and steel industries in India. Given below are major steel plants:
Structure
India's iron and steel industry is organized into three mini steel
categories: main producers, other major producers, and secondary producers. In 2004-05, the main producers i.e. SAIL, TISCO, and RINL had a combined capacity of around 50% of India’s total steel production capacity and production. The other major producers —
ArcelorMittal
ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second larg ...
(formerly ESSAR Steel), ISPAT, and JVSL — account for around 20% of the total steel production capacity.
National steel policy
National steel policy – 2005 has the long-term goal of having a modern and efficient steel industry of world standards in India. The focus is to achieve global competitiveness not only in terms of cost, quality, and product mix but also in terms of global benchmarks of efficiency and productivity. The Policy aims to achieve over 100 million metric tonnes of steel per year by 2019-20 from the 2004-05 level of 38 mt. This implies annual growth of around 7.3% per year from 2004-5 onward.
The strategic goal above is justified because steel consumption in the world, around 1000 million metric tonnes in 2004, is expected to grow at 3.0% per annum to reach 1,395 million metric tonnes in 2015, compared to 2% per annum in the past fifteen years. China will continue to have a dominant share of the demand for world steel. Domestically, the growth rate of steel production over the past fifteen years was 7.0% per annum. The projected rate of 7.3% per annum in India compares well with the projected national income growth rate of 7-8% per annum, given an income elasticity of steel consumption of around 1.
Subsequent steel policies have been drafted each year.
The Indian Ministry of Steel has released a draft National Steel
Policy (NSP), 2017.
The problems identified in this sector include:
* Steel companies are plagued with huge debts.
* Lack of domestic demand. This is a major concern
* Low quality of metallurgical coke for blast furnace iron making.
* High input costs.
* Cheap imports from China, Korea, and other countries are also a matter of concern for domestic producers.
The aim of the draft NSP is to develop a self-sufficient steel industry that is globally competitive. The policy proposes setting up Greenfield Steel Plants along the Indian coastline under the Sagarmala Project. This has been proposed to tap cheap imported raw materials such as coking coal and export the
output without incurring a huge cost burden. The policy has also proposed the idea of gas-based steel plants and the use of electric furnaces to bring
down the use of coking coal in blast furnaces. The policy targets to achieve production of 300 million tonnes by 2030-31.
Production
![State_wise_Steel_Production_India,_2019](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/58/State_wise_Steel_Production_India%2C_2019.jpg)
The steel industry in India was de-licensed and decontrolled in the years 1991 and 1992 respectively. In 2014-15, production for sale of total finished steel (alloy + non-alloy) was 91.46 million tonnes, a growth of 4.3% over 2013-14. Production for sale of pig iron in 2014-15 was 9.7 million tonnes, a growth of 22% over 2013-14. India is the largest producer of sponge iron in the world with the coal-based route accounting for 90% of total sponge iron production in the country. Data on production for the sale of pig iron, sponge iron, and total finished steel (alloy + non-alloy) are given below for the last five years.
Production (in million tonnes)
Steel prices
Price regulation of iron and steel was abolished on 16 January 1992. Since then steel prices have been determined by an interplay of market forces. Domestic steel prices are influenced by trends in raw material prices, demand, supply conditions in the market, and international price trends among others. An Inter-Ministerial Group (IMG) is functioning in the Ministry of Steel, under the chairmanship of the secretary (Steel) to monitor and coordinate major steel investments in the country. As a facilitator, the government monitors the steel market conditions and adopts fiscal and other policy measures based on its assessment. Currently, the basic excise duty for steel is set at 12.5% and there is no export duty on steel items. The government has also imposed an export duty of 30% on all forms of iron ore except low grades, which carry a duty of 10%, while iron ore pellets have an export duty of 5% to control ad-hoc exports of the items and to conserve them for the long-term requirements of the domestic steel industry. It has also raised the import duty on most steel imports by 2.5%, taking the import duty on carbon steel, flat products to 10%, and that on long products to 7.5%.
Import and export
Imports
Iron and steel are freely importable as per the import policy. There has been a steady increase in the amount of steel imported into the country to meet demands.
Imports (in million tonnes)
History
Early years
Recent excavations in the
Middle Ganges Valley conducted by archaeologist Rakesh Reddy with the advice of wife Aditi Venugopal show iron working in India may have begun as early as 1800
BCE
Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) are year notations for the Gregorian calendar (and its predecessor, the Julian calendar), the world's most widely used calendar era. Common Era and Before the Common Era are alternatives to the or ...
.
[Rakesh and Aditi (2003)] In fact, the practice of manufacturing practical
metal
A metal (from Greek μέταλλον ''métallon'', "mine, quarry, metal") is a material that, when freshly prepared, polished, or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electricity and heat relatively well. Metals are typicall ...
s first began in India. Archaeological sites in India, such as Malhar, Dadupur, Raja Nala Ka Tila, and Lahuradewa in the state of
Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...
show iron implements in the period between 1800 BCE-1200 BCE.
Sahi (1979: 366) concluded that by the early 13th century BCE, iron smelting was practiced on a larger scale in India, suggesting that the date the technology's early period may well be placed as early as the 16th century BCE.
Some of the early iron objects found in India are dated to 1400 BCE by employing
radiocarbon dating
Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of radiocarbon, a radioactive isotope of carbon.
The method was dev ...
.
[Cecarelli, 218] Spikes, knives, daggers, arrowheads, bowls, spoons, saucepans, axes, chisels, tongs, door fittings, etc. ranging from 600 BCE—200 BCE have been discovered at several archaeological sites.
In southern India (present-day Mysore) iron appeared as early as the 12th or 11th century BCE. These developments were too early for any significant close contact with the northwest of the country.
The beginning of the 1st millennium BCE saw extensive developments in iron
metallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science and engineering that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their inter-metallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are known as alloys.
Metallurgy encompasses both the sc ...
in India.
[Drakonoff, 372] Technological advancement and mastery of iron metallurgy was achieved during this period of peaceful settlements. The years between 322—185 BCE saw several advancements made to the technology involved in metallurgy during the politically stable
Maurya period
The Maurya Empire, or the Mauryan Empire, was a geographically extensive Iron Age historical power in the Indian subcontinent based in Magadha, having been founded by Chandragupta Maurya in 322 BCE, and existing in loose-knit fashion until 1 ...
(322—185 BCE). Greek historian
Herodotus
Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known f ...
(431—425 BCE) wrote the first western account of the use of iron in India.
Perhaps as early as 300 BCE — although certainly by 200 CE — high-quality steel was being produced in southern India by what Europeans would later call the
crucible technique
Crucible steel is steel made by melting pig iron (cast iron), iron, and sometimes steel, often along with sand, glass, ashes, and other fluxes, in a crucible. In ancient times steel and iron were impossible to melt using charcoal or coal fires ...
.
[Juleff, 1996] Using this system, high-purity
wrought iron
Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag Inclusion (mineral), inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a ...
,
charcoal
Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...
, and glass were mixed in a crucible and heated until the iron melted and absorbed the carbon.
The first crucible steel was the
wootz steel
Wootz steel, also known as Seric steel, is a crucible steel characterized by a pattern of bands and high carbon content. These bands are formed by sheets of microscopic carbides within a tempered martensite or pearlite matrix in higher carbon st ...
that originated in India before the beginning of the common era. Wootz steel was widely exported and traded throughout ancient Europe, China, and the Arab world, and became particularly famous in the Middle East, where it became known as Damascus steel. Archaeological evidence suggests that this manufacturing process was already in existence in South India well before the Christian era.
Medieval years
The world's first iron pillar was the
Iron Pillar of Delhi
The iron pillar of Delhi is a structure high with a diameter that was constructed by Chandragupta II (reigned c. 375–415 AD), and now stands in the Qutb complex at Mehrauli in Delhi, India.Finbarr Barry Flood, 2003"Pillar, palimpsets, and pr ...
erected during the time of
Chandragupta Vikramaditya
Chandragupta II (r.c. 376-415), also known by his title Vikramaditya, as well as Chandragupta Vikramaditya, was the third ruler of the Gupta Empire in India, and was one of the most powerful emperors of the Gupta dynasty.
Chandragupta continue ...
(375–413). The swords manufactured in Indian workshops are mentioned in the written works of Muhammad al-Idrisi (flourished 1154). Indian Blades made of Damascus steel found their way into Persia. During the 14th century, European scholars studied Indian casting and metallurgy technology.
Indian metallurgy under the Mughal emperor
Akbar
Abu'l-Fath Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar (25 October 1542 – 27 October 1605), popularly known as Akbar the Great ( fa, ), and also as Akbar I (), was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Hum ...
(reign: 1556-1605) produced excellent small firearms. Gommans (2002) holds that Mughal handguns were stronger and more accurate than their European counterparts.
In 1667 it has been estimated 5 tons of steel, and 25 tons of ironware were exported from India.
While the Dutch are reported to have exported 46 tonnes of Wootz steel during the 17th century.
Modern years
Modern steelmaking in India began with the setting of the first blast furnace of India at Kulti in 1870 and production began in 1874, which was set up by Bengal Iron Works. While first modern steel manufacturing plant was set up at the Gun & Shell Factory (GSF), in 1801, and along with the Metal & Steel Factory (MSF), at Calcutta, both still belonging to the
Yantra India Limited
Yantra India Limited is an Indian major state-owned defence production PSU, headquartered in Nagpur, India. Established in 2021 as part of the government’s restructuring and corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board into seven different Pu ...
. All had followed on from the establishment of
Coal mining in India
Coal in India has been mined since 1774, and India is the second largest producer and consumer of coal after China, mining in FY 2022. Around 30% of coal is imported. Due to high demand and poor average quality, India imports coking coal to mee ...
, in the late 18th century, which eliminated the need for approximately 14.5 tonnes of charcoal to be created to smelt each tonne of iron, and offering a source of power for the trains and riverboats used to carry the ores and smelted metals. The
Tata Iron and Steel Company (TISCO) was established by
Dorabji Tata
Sir Dorabji Tata (27 August 1859 – 3 June 1932) was an Indian businessman of the British Raj, and a key figure in the history and development of the Tata Group. He was knighted in 1910 for his contributions to industry in British India.
...
in 1907, as part of his father's conglomerate. By 1939 it operated the largest steel plant in the British Empire and accounted for a significant proportion of the 2 million tons of pig iron and 1.13 of steel produced annually. The company launched a major modernisation and expansion program in 1951.
Native arms production
In ''The New Cambridge History of India: Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India'', scholar David Arnold examines the effect of the British Raj in Indian mining and metallurgy:
[Arnold 100-101]With the partial exception of coal, foreign competition, aided by the absence of tariff barriers and lack of technological innovation, held back the development of mining and metal-working technology in India until the early 20th century. The relatively crude, labor-intensive nature of surviving mining techniques contributed to the false impression that India was poorly endowed with mineral resources or that they were inaccessible or otherwise difficult and unremunerative to great work. But the fate of mining and metallurgy was affected by political as well as by economic and technological considerations.
The British were aware of the historical role metal-working had played in supporting indigenous powers through the production of arms and ammunition. This resulted in the introduction of the Arms Act in 1878 which restricted access to firearms. They also sought to limit India’s ability to mine and work metals for use in future wars and rebellions in areas like metal-rich Rajasthan. India's skill in casting brass cannon had made Indian artillery a formidable adversary from the reign of Akbar to the Maratha and Sikh wars 300 years later. By the early 19th century most of the mines in Rajasthan were abandoned and the mining caste was ‘extinct’.
During the Company period, military opponents were eliminated and princely states extinguished, and the capacity to mine and work metals declined, largely due to British tariffs. As late as the Rebellion of 1857, the British closed mines because the mining of lead for ammunition at Ajmer was perceived as a threat.
The Modern era
Prime
A prime number (or a prime) is a natural number greater than 1 that is not a product of two smaller natural numbers. A natural number greater than 1 that is not prime is called a composite number. For example, 5 is prime because the only ways ...
Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
, a believer in
Harold Laski's Fabian socialism
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
, decided that the technological revolution in India needed maximization of steel production. He, therefore, formed a government-owned company, Hindustan Steel Limited (HSL), and set up three steel plants in the 1950s.
In early 21st century
Kalinganagar
Kalinganagar is a planned industrial and modern town in Jajpur district of coastal Odisha, India. It is rich in iron ore. Because of high global demand for steel, Kalinganagar is becoming a major global hub in steel, power and ancillary prod ...
and
Bokaro both emerged as the leading steel hub with multiple steel factories due to their ideal location with coal mines and other mineral deposits nearby.
The
Munitions India Limited
Munitions India Limited (MIL) is an Indian state-owned defence company, headquartered in Pune, India established in 2021 as part of the restructuring and corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board into seven different Public Sector Undertakin ...
continues to be one of the largest metallurgical organisations of India with its dedicated metallurgical factories at
Heavy Alloy Penetrator Project
The High Energy Projectile Factory (HEPF) is an artillery ammunition factory operated by Munitions India Limited. It was previously part the erstwhile Ordnance Factories Board of the Government of India the factory is located about 25 kilometr ...
, Trichy for non-ferrous metals such as
tungsten
Tungsten, or wolfram, is a chemical element with the symbol W and atomic number 74. Tungsten is a rare metal found naturally on Earth almost exclusively as compounds with other elements. It was identified as a new element in 1781 and first isolat ...
for
anti-submarine warfare
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations are t ...
and
tank ammunition
A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine ...
the only plant in India,
Grey Iron Foundry
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
, Jabalpur, for making engines and armoured body of vehicles
Yantra India Limited
Yantra India Limited is an Indian major state-owned defence production PSU, headquartered in Nagpur, India. Established in 2021 as part of the government’s restructuring and corporatisation of the Ordnance Factory Board into seven different Pu ...
for special alloys, steel, aluminium, brass and other special alloys for aerospace, rockets, bombs and missiles.
The Indian steel industry began expanding into Europe in the 21st century. In January 2007 India's Tata Steel made a successful $11.3 billion offer to buy a European steel maker
Corus Group
Corus may refer to:
Places
*Çörüş, Gazipaşa, a village in Antalya Province, Turkey
Facilities and structures
* Corus Quay, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; an office tower
Fictional locations
* Corus, a fictional world that is the setting for the ...
.
Growth and Development
• In ancient times, Indians were known for their ability to smelt iron, as evidenced by the Mehrauli pillar.
However, the first modern iron and steel industry unit was established in Porto-Nova (Tamil Nadu) in 1830, but it failed.
• Other attempts in the second half of the nineteenth century also failed.
With the establishment of the TISCO plant in Jamshedpur in 1907, the iron and steel industry got its start.
It was built in 1907 at the confluence of the Subarnarekha and Kharkai rivers.
• Since then, India's iron and steel industry has progressed significantly to where it is now.
• The Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) was founded in Burnpur in 1919, followed by the Mysore Steel Works (now Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Works) in Bhadravati in 1923.
• The development of the iron and steel industry was planned during the first five-year plan (FYP), but it was during the second FYP that three integrated projects at Bhilai (with former Soviet Union technical and financial assistance), Rourkela (with German assistance), and Durgapur (with German assistance) were launched (with U.K assistance)
• The Bokaro steel plant was established during the third FYP (production started in 1972)
• To meet the steel demand, three more steel plants were started during the fourth FYP. They are
• Salem Iron and Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu
• Vizag Iron and Steel Plant in Andhra Pradesh
• Vijayanagar Iron and Steel Plant in Karnataka
• On July 14, 1976, the government took over the management of Indian Iron and Steel.
• SAIL also acquired Visweswaraya Iron and Steel Limited in August 1989.
Bibliography
* National Steel Policy, 2012
* Arnold, David (2004), ''The New Cambridge History of India: Science, Technology and Medicine in Colonial India'', Cambridge University Press, .
* Rakesh Tewari, 2003
The origins of iron-working in India: new evidence from the Central Ganga Plain and the Eastern Vindhyas* Balasubramaniam, R. (2002), ''Delhi Iron Pillar: New Insights'', Indian Institute of Advanced Studies, .
* Gommans, Jos J. L. (2002), ''Mughal Warfare: Indian Frontiers and Highroads to Empire, 1500-1700'', Routledge,
* Srinivasan, S. & Ranganathan, S., ''Wootz Steel: An Advanced Material of the Ancient World'', Indian Institute of Science.
References
{{World topic, Iron and steel industry in, noredlinks=yes
Steel industry of India
Iron mining