We'll Stay The Course In Our Strong Expansion Of Tata Steel: Chandrasekaran

Tata Steel chairman, Natarajan Chandrasekaran, hoped that the industry-specific policy measures taken by the government to tackle inflation were short-term and indicated that the company was not slowing down expansion plans.

Addressing shareholders at the company’s annual general meeting (AGM), the chairman of Tata Steel and Tata Sons – the holding company – said that the steel industry in India is globally competitive and therefore the Indian steel companies should be able to expand capacity in value-added steel products for both "make in India" and "make for the world".

“This is a defining moment in history where the steel industry can leverage its competitive position and export its products globally to not only earn foreign exchange but also provide opportunities for capital formation in India, provide employment and more importantly, allow Indian companies to invest in sustainable technology and create value for the long term,” he said.

His comments come at a time when the steel industry is adversely impacted by a 15 per cent export duty imposed by the government last month leading to a steep correction in steel prices.

Responding to shareholder queries, Chandrasekaran said that overall demand for steel was strong internationally. “Currently, we have a headwind because of the export duty. But overall when you look at the future, I think, India will be a net exporter of steel after substantially meeting the domestic demand.”

He noted that while global growth was impacted, India was still in a strong position and would remain the fastest growing major economy.

In sync with the expectation, the Tata Steel management indicated that it would continue with its growth plans.

This decade, India would see a strong growth primarily led by the infrastructure spending which would require huge consumption of steel. “So we will continue to stay the course of our strong expansion plan for Tata Steel,” said Chandrasekaran.

He reiterated that there were no additional plans of expansion in Europe and the UK and the plans for expansion were in India.

From the current capacity of 20 mt in India, Tata Steel would go to 30-40 mt.

“The current commitment that we have in Kalinganagar expansion and Angul will already take it to 25 mt. And then we have significant organic expansion plans in NINL also. We want to have at least a 10 mt-plus capacity in long products,” he said.

Tata Steel’s plan for capital expenditure per year is Rs 10,000-12,000 crore. “We definitely want to expand faster and reach our targets of 30-40 mt. So we are not slowing down our expansion plans. We think, we have adequate cash flows to be able to support that,” said Chandrasekaran.

While making his presentation at the AGM, Tata Steel managing director and chief executive officer, T V Narendran said, “Looking ahead, we aim to be an industry leader in India aided by value accretive growth across the steel value chain.”

Among the growth projects in the near term are the 6 million tonne (mt) pellet plant in Q3FY23 which will be followed by the cold rolling mill complex and the 5 mt expansion at Kalinganagar.

In FY22, the company achieved scale through organic and inorganic acquisitions. On the organic side, the company accelerated capital allocation to its growth projects.

On the inorganic front, the company made significant acquisitions during the year in the areas of long products, mining, as well as advanced materials, said Chandrasekaran.

The most notable among these was the acquisition of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), which is expected to close soon.