Steel Grade Chart India: A Complete Reference for Engineers and Buyers

Every engineer working on Indian projects ends up needing a single page that maps the common Indian steel grades to their standards, properties, and applications. The drawing calls for an IS 2062 grade and the procurement team needs to know which subgrade to order. The fabricator gets an IS 513 specification and wants to confirm the yield strength against the design. The architect ran the numbers on Fe500 TMT bars and needs the chemistry behind that grade for a sustainability report. The questions are different but the underlying need is the same: a steel grade chart for India that is accurate, current, and structured so engineers and buyers can use it in seconds rather than minutes.

This article is that chart. It covers the five most-used Indian Standards (IS 2062 structural, IS 1079 hot rolled sheet and coil, IS 513 cold rolled sheet and coil, IS 277 galvanised sheet, and IS 1786 TMT reinforcement bars), with yield strength, tensile strength, key chemistry, and primary application for each grade. The companion material standard grade reference on DigECA serves as the interactive lookup tool, and this article serves as the reference page engineers can bookmark.

A steel grade chart is a tabular reference that ties each grade designation back to its underlying standard, its mechanical properties, and the application class it was intended for. Engineers and procurement teams use grade charts for three purposes. First, to confirm that the steel a project actually receives matches what the drawing specified. Second, to look up the closest available substitute when the specified grade is not in stock. Third, to verify the structural design assumptions against the material properties before signing off on construction.

Reading a grade chart properly means understanding the five columns that almost every reference uses.

• Grade designation: the actual name engineers see on drawings (E250, CR2, HR2, Fe500, and so on).
• Standard reference: the Indian Standard (or international equivalent) that defines the grade's chemistry and properties.
• Yield strength: the minimum stress in MPa above which the steel will deform permanently. The most important structural property.
• Tensile strength: the maximum stress in MPa the steel can take before breaking, almost always higher than yield.
• Application class: structural, drawing, deep drawing, reinforcement, and so on. Defines what the grade was actually engineered for.

Two pitfalls to flag before reading any chart. First, the values in any grade chart are minimum requirements, not the values mills typically deliver. Real mill production usually exceeds the minimum comfortably, but the design value is the standard minimum. Second, the grade designation alone is not enough for procurement; subgrades and supplementary requirements often matter. IS 2062 E250 with BR subgrade is not the same product as IS 2062 E250 with C subgrade, even though both share the headline strength number.

Indian Standard grade names follow a few repeating patterns once you know what to look for.

Yield-strength naming (E series, Fe series)

Modern IS 2062 grades use the letter E followed by the minimum yield strength in MPa. E250 means 250 MPa minimum yield, E350 means 350 MPa, E410 means 410 MPa. This naming was adopted in the IS 2062:2006 revision, which superseded the older Fe-series naming (Fe410, Fe440, Fe490) that used tensile strength as the reference number. The Fe410 grade became E250 in this renaming, since both refer to the same material. TMT bars under IS 1786 still use the Fe-series naming (Fe415, Fe500, Fe550, Fe600) where the number refers to yield strength rather than tensile.

Process-class naming (CR series, HR series)

Flat products under IS 513 (cold rolled) and IS 1079 (hot rolled) use CR or HR as the prefix, followed by a number indicating the application class. CR1 and HR1 are commercial quality grades. CR2 and HR2 are drawing quality. CR3 and HR3 are deep drawing. CR4 and HR4 are extra deep drawing. The numbers represent increasing formability rather than increasing strength.

Subgrade naming (A, BR, BO, C in IS 2062)

IS 2062 grades carry an additional subgrade designation that defines Charpy V-notch impact testing requirements. Subgrade A requires no impact test. Subgrade BR is tested at room temperature (about +27 °C). Subgrade BO is tested at 0 °C. Subgrade C is tested at -20 °C or lower. The chemistry and tensile properties stay the same within a grade, only the impact toughness changes. The complete guide to IS 2062 E250, E350 and E410 steel grades article on the DigECA blog covers this in detail.

IS 2062:2011 is the current Indian Standard for hot rolled structural steel. It covers plates, strips, shapes (angles, channels, beams), flats, and bars used in buildings, bridges, infrastructure, machinery and general fabrication. Nine main grades and their key properties:

Each grade is further split into subgrades A, BR, BO and C based on Charpy impact testing requirements. Subgrade BR is the default for most Indian plains construction; BO or C is required for cold-climate or low-temperature service. For E250 specifically, the older Fe 410 designation is still seen on legacy drawings and procurement documents. The deeper grade story for IS 2062 sits in the complete guide to IS 2062 E250, E350 and E410 steel grades article on the DigECA blog. For broader application context the structural steel grades, types, properties and applications is the companion piece.

IS 1079 covers hot rolled steel sheets, strips and coils for general engineering applications. The grades are differentiated by formability rather than strength, with lower numbers used for cutting and forming to standard shapes and higher numbers used for severe drawing and stamping operations.

The HR family is the workhorse for hot rolled flat product procurement in India. Tata Astrum is the most commonly stocked branded range under IS 1079. The HRPO variant of HR2 is covered separately in the HRPO IS 1079:2017 HR2 applications guide. For broader pricing and selection context the hot rolled steel coils grades pricing uses article covers the procurement angle.

IS 513 covers cold rolled steel sheets, strips and coils for surface-critical applications including automotive, appliance, furniture and packaging. The grades are differentiated by formability, with progressively tighter chemistry and processing as drawing severity increases.

Cold rolled flat products are where surface finish and dimensional accuracy matter most. Tata Steelium is the primary branded range under IS 513 in the Indian market. The CR2 grade specifically is covered in the IS 513 CR2 cold rolled steel manufacturing article, and the broader cold rolled application landscape in the cold rolled steel grades, strengths and uses article.

IS 277 covers galvanised steel sheets and coils used in roofing, cladding, ducting, electrical enclosures, automotive underbody parts and appliance surfaces. The grades are differentiated by application class and zinc coating mass, rather than by mechanical strength alone.

Galvanised sheet selection depends as much on the zinc coating mass as on the steel substrate underneath. Tata Galvano covers the IS 277 range across the standard application classes, with traceable zinc coating mass per consignment. For the broader galvanised vs hot rolled comparison the difference between hot rolled sheet and galvanized iron sheet article on the DigECA blog covers the practical distinctions.