India's 33 per cent growth in steel production in the last five years at was second only to China among the top-five producing nations.

China's production grew by 39 per cent during 2008-2012, the latest World Steel Association (WSA) data has revealed.

India's production grew constantly in the last five years from 57.8 MT in 2008 to 63.5 MT in 2009, 69 MT in 2010, 73.6 MT in 2011 and 76.7 MT in 2012,

China, which produces nearly half of world's steel, had output of 512.3 MT in 2008, 577.1 MT in 2009, 638.7 MT in 2010, 694.8 MT in 2011 and 716.5 MT in 2012.

World's steel production grew to 1,548 MT in 2012, up from 1,341 MT in 2008, recording a growth of 15 per cent.

Russia, which holds the fifth rank in the world order of steel production in 2012, had clocked a mere three per cent growth in output during the last five years.

In 2008, it had produced 68.5 MT and in 2012, it stood at 70.6 MT.

Japan and the US, which occupy the second and third ranks respectively since 2010, have, in fact, produced less steel in 2012 than what they had produced in 2008.

Japan's production fell to 107.2 MT in 2012 from 118.7 MT in 2008. Similarly, production in the US slipped to 88.6 MT in 2012 from 91.4 MT, the WSA data revealed.

India is projected to grab the second slot in the world of steel production within a year or two on new capacity expansions, mainly through the brownfield route.

The government expects the country's installed steel production capacity to go up to 200 MT by 2020 from around 90 MT now.