Notwithstanding the turmoil in Karnataka over the iron ore issue, Tata Steel will move forward with its proposed investment in the State which it is jointly implementing with Tata Metaliks, a subsidiary.
Stating this while addressing a pressmeet, Tata Steel Managing Director H. M. Nerurkar said that it was also unfortunate that those who followed the law of the land suffered due to the misdeeds of some bad elements.
The Tatas plan to set up a three million tonne integrated steel plant in Haveri district in the Bellary-Hospet iron ore belt. The project's estimated investment is Rs.6,000 crore and it would need 2,500 acres. The MoU for the project was signed in June 2010.
Mr. Nerurkar said that land had already been identified and iron ore linkage was being awaited. “We have been promised iron ore,” he said adding “as soon as things are formalised we will move ahead as we feel Karnataka has potential”. On another proposed greenfield expansion, he said that the 6-million tonne Orissa project was progressing well and equipment were in place. The company is expecting to get additional iron ore mines for this project which would come up in two phases. The first phase is expected to be commissioned by 2013-14.
He said that the company was investing Rs.8,000 crore in 2011-12 in Jamshedpur where crude steel capacity was being increased from 6.8 million tonnes to 9.7 million tonnes. Mr. Nerurkar regretted that new capacity plans were getting tied down saying that even if growth rates were estimated conservatively at around 7 per cent annually, steel demand would grow at 9 per cent and India would become an importer of steel. He expected prices to increase by around Rs.1,000 a tonne within the next six months.
He said that the funds raised from Riversdale would be utilised for the capital expenditure plans. On raw materials issues, he said that efforts were on to reduce consumption of critical items such as coking coal through improved technologies. The direct shipping ore project in Canada (New Millennium Steel Capital Corporation) will yield around four million tonnes annually by march 2014.
