Amid slowdown in domestic demand, steel firms are focusing on exports, which of late have become attractive due to the rupee weakness, to protect their margins. Major steel firms like SAIL, JSW Steel, Essar Steel, and RINL, among others, have also seen pick up in export demand in last few months after rupee started trading at over 60 level.

Angel Broking senior analyst (metals and mining) Bhavesh Chavan told PTI that "Steel exports can see a growth of 20 to 25% in current financial year due to the rupee fall.”

Mr Chavan said though the brokerage firm doesn't have any estimate for overall export numbers for this fiscal, market sources have pegged it around 7 million tonnes by March end.

On specific companies, Mr Chavan said while for JSW Steel, exports are pegged at around 3 million tonnes, for Essar Steel it could be 1.5 to 2 million tonne this fiscal.

Mr Chavan said that similarly, TATA Steel may export around 0.2 million tonne, while SAIL is also likely to increase its exports to over 0.7 million tonne this fiscal.