Mumbai/Jamshedpur: Tata Steel has doubled down on India by laying out an elaborate expansion blueprint for its future projects. Tata Steel Board, in a meeting, affirmed the long-term growth strategy for the India business.
In line with pursuing prudent capital allocation and profitable growth, Tata Steel has announced that it will prioritize investments in volume growth, a value-added downstream portfolio, identified mining assets, and infrastructure to serve the needs of its India business, as well as low-carbon, low-capital-intensity process technologies for sustainable steelmaking of the future.
The board has approved a 4.8 MTPA capacity expansion at Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited. This is Phase 1 of the capacity expansion at NINL, enabling Tata Steel to further expand its long products portfolio, particularly in the highly profitable retail sector, and capitalize on the growth of the construction sector in India through new products and solutions.
As part of further enhancing the finished steel capacity in flat products, the board has approved the funds required to undertake the design and engineering work to set up a 2.5 million tons Thin Slab Caster and Rolling facilities at Tata Steel Meramandali, and also progress on seeking all regulatory approvals for the expansion. This will expand the finished steel capacity, particularly of thinner gauge products, by 2.5 MTPA.
Tata Steel has been steadily expanding its downstream facilities across various product lines to serve the needs of its customers. In line with this strategy and following the recent decision to consolidate the holdings in Tata Steel BlueScope Private Limited, a joint venture in the color-coated business for construction, the board has approved the plan to set up a 0.7 MTPA Hot Rolled Pickling and Galvanizing Line (HRPGL) at its existing Cold Rolling Complex in Tarapur, Maharashtra. This will be a ‘first of its kind’ facility in India that will enable Tata Steel to meet the requirements of its automotive customers for import substitution and further consolidate its leadership position in this segment.
As Maharashtra aims to grow to a $1 trillion economy in the near future and to cater to the growing demand of customers in Western and Southern India, Tata Steel has signed a MoU with Lloyd Metals & Energy Ltd to partner in the areas of iron ore mining, logistics, including slurry pipeline, pellet, and steel making. Both companies will jointly explore several opportunities in the Gadchiroli district of Maharashtra – operate mining concessions and associated infrastructure, with the objective to increase iron ore production and be a prominent player in this growing region developing as a new iron ore hub of India, development of a greenfield 6 million tons steel capacity by Tata Steel in two phases and strategic cooperation in the proposed integrated steel projects already being developed by Lloyds Metals & Energy Limited (LMEL) in Gadhchiroli. All proposed initiatives are subject to further detailed evaluation, due diligence, and receipt of requisite internal and regulatory approvals.
Tata Steel has also signed agreements to acquire a 50.01% stake in Thriveni Pellets Private Limited (TPPL), subject to regulatory approvals. TPPL owns a 100% stake in Brahmani River Pellet Limited (BRPL), which operates a 4 MTPA pellet plant at Jajpur, Odisha, along with a 212 Kilometer slurry pipeline. LMEL holds the balance 49.99% stake in TPPL.
The global steel major has been operating its pilot plant on HIsarna technology for a decade in its Ijmuiden plant. HIsarna technology is a low-carbon technology that uses inferior quality iron ore, eliminates the usage of coke, and also uses steel slag in its process, hence making it a sustainable technology for the future. In the last couple of years, Tata Steel, along with a large global steel company, has been jointly running trials in the IJmuiden Pilot Plant. The Board reviewed the progress of the trials, the scalability opportunities of the technology, and gave approval to commence engineering work and the regulatory approval process to set up a demonstration plant of around 1 MTPA capacity in Jamshedpur. Tata Steel owns the global intellectual property rights of the HIsrana process technology, and this is one of the key focus areas in the new technology space for the company.
