Tata Steel has bought a portion of the first steel rail track rolled out from its Jamshedpur unit in 1912 at an auction at the Sotheby's in UK.
This section of the track was cut up to be used as a desk weight with the engraving ‘First rail rolled from Tata Steel by the Tata Iron & Steel Co Ltd/ Sakchi. India/March 18th 1912’, the company said in a statement.
It did not say how much it paid in the auction.
It said this precious heritage of the steel company became part of “The Duchess” Indian collection consisting of property and precious objects from the Estate of Mary, the Duchess of Roxburghe.
“It came up for auction at Sotheby, UK and has been acquired by Tata Steel. It is expected that this piece of Indian Steel history will soon arrive at Jamshedpur and will be kept at the Centre for Excellence,” the company said.
Established in 1907 as Asia’s first integrated private sector steel company, Tata Steel is among the top global steel companies with a crude steel capacity of nearly 30 million tonnes per annum (MnTPA).
It is now the world’s second-most geographically diversified steel producer, with operations in 26 countries and a commercial presence in over 50 countries.
With a turnover of USD 24.81 billion in FY’14, Tata Steel has over 80,000 employees across five continents and is a Fortune 500 company.
