The Japanese quake could impact steel supplies to Indian carmakers, many of who import a sizeable quantity of the key manufacturing input from the temblor-hit country.

Indian subsidiaries of Japanese auto majors like Honda, Suzuki, and Toyota who source a large proportion of their needs from Japanese steel makers, could be hit particularly hard.

While they may have inventories to meet short-term requirements, industry analysts say that the situation could become serious if Japan continues to be in its present trouble.

"We get high-tensile steel for the City sedan and the Jazz compact from Japan and these are used for things like body panels and frames," said an official from Honda Siel Cars.

Around 40-50 per cent of the requirement comes from Japan, the official said, though he added that inventories were sufficient to take care of demand for some time.

Maruti Suzuki, India's the biggest carmaker by sales, also gets a big amount of its overall steel requirement from Japan. S Maitra, managing executive officer (supply chain), said that 26 per cent of Maruti's requirement come from Japan.