ICRA cautions that Indian steelmakers' margins remain under pressure even as demand grows. Elevated input costs and soft realisations are squeezing spreads, a combination that keeps procurement teams disciplined on every purchase from ore to alloys. The agency's read underlines the market's central tension: volume strength that is not yet translating into pricing power. Until that changes, mills will keep pushing cost pressure upstream, and input suppliers will feel demand that is healthy in tonnes but hard-fought in price.