The Panchakanya Steel Limited, Kotehawa, Bhairahawa has been awarded the ISO 9001:2000 for its cold-twisted, ribbed (CRT) deformed steel bars. Panchakanya is Nepal's largest manufacturer of steel rods and produces about 35,000 metric tons each year. The group's steel now has about 20 percent of the market share, and the bars are also exported to Tibet. "We plan to expand exports to neighbouring Indian cities also," says Pradip Kumar Shrestha, managing director of Panchakanya Steel. Nepal's domestic demand for steel is about 160,000 metric tons and has generally grown by about 10 percent every year. Business has gone a little slack in the last two years, due largely to the slowdown in large infrastructure development and the slump in real estate. Shrestha says that roughly 70 percent of steel industries have shut down and Panchakanya is one of the few that added capacity to achieve economy of scale. All the market really needs to pick up speed again are a few development projects using local product. Most foreign-funded infrastructure projects still import steel for construction, which Shrestha hopes will now change because quality steel is available locally. The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) certification is approved by Llyod's Register Quality Assurance. Panchakanya's steel was the first company to receive the Nepal Standard Quality Award in the industry, and also the first to receive ISO certification.