Ferro Alloys production in India dates back to 1917 when IISCO, followed by Tata Steel, in 1919 commenced production of ferro manganese. Ferro alloy refers to various alloys of iron, which are used in the production of mild steel, carbon steel, special alloy steel and stainless steel. India's steel production is increasing every year, thereby the consumption of Ferro Alloys is also increasing. The Indian Ferro Alloy industry has a capacity of 5.15 million tons accounting for nearly 10% of the world's Ferro alloy production and is among the 10 largest producers of the material in the world.

In the midst of raw material availability being a key factor for Ferro Alloy industry growth, production is concentrated in a few pockets. India, South Africa, China and the CIS countries represent a large source for Ferro Alloys. India's Ferro Alloy supply constitutes of Ferro chrome about 32%, Ferro Manganese and Silicon Manganese about 62% and rest others. Quality wise, chrome ore available in India edges over competition due to higher Cr2O3 and higher Cr/ Fe ratio. The higher Cr/Fe and higher composition of Cr2O3 makes Indian ores more amenable to beneficiation and upgradation.

The industry is consolidating its position by enhancing existing capacity of furnaces and also by installing captive power plants. Fortunes of Ferro Alloys Industry are linked to that of the Steel Industry. India is bullish on developing infrastructure and such projects shall create good demand for construction steel resulting in increase of ferro alloys demand. The prospects and future looks good for the ferro alloy industry considering the fact that the global steel demand is pegged to grow at a decent rate of 2.9%. Further, as per vision 2020, India steel industry has a plan to almost double the 120 million tons capacities projected in 2012 to 200 million tones in 2020.