New Delhi, Dec 28 (IANS): Even before the start of the new year, the Indian steel sector has regained its lost shine registering a growth of 3.5 per cent in crude steel production in November.

According to data provided by World Steel Association, country's crude steel production stood at 9.245 million tonne (MT) in November, as against 8.933 MT during the same month last year indicating a big pick up in economic activity post the pandemic pushed lockdowns.

A pick in steel production is also an indicator of growth seen on the infrastructure sector where lot of projects are being pushed by the government to bring back the economy to normalcy.

In its latest report the WSA has also shown that the steel industry is not only on recovery the path in India, but the developments here is part of a larger global recovery with crude steel production rising in almost 64 major economies.

On the positive side, the association had indicated that the numbers of November were estimates and it may be revised upwards once next months numbers are presented.

India became the world's second largest producer of crude steel in 2019, producing 111.245 million tonne (MT) crude steel in the January-December period with growth rate 1.8 per cent over the corresponding period last year (CPLY). Capacity for domestic crude steel production expanded from 109.85 million tonne per annum (MTPA) in 2014-15 to 142.24 MTPA in 2018-19, Compounded Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 6.8 per cent during this five-year period.