A closer look at Indian steel consumption asks whether the market has hit its first warning sign after a long run of exceptional growth. Any cooling in demand momentum would echo through the entire input chain, from iron ore and coking coal to ferro alloys. The analysis weighs the indicators — offtake, prices, inventory behaviour — and asks whether the softness is seasonal noise or something more structural. For a market that has priced in Indian growth as a constant, even the question is significant.