INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - APRIL - MAY 2007
The Month that was ...

JINDAL STAINLESS PLANS RS 5,600-CR PLANT AT KALINGA NAGAR

IN a major expansion drive, Jindal Stainless (JSL) plans to spend Rs 5,600 crore for setting up a 0.8 million tonne (mt) per annum stainless steel plant at the Kalinga Nagar Industrial Complex in Orissa. The investment is part of the second phase expansion of the integrated stainless steel project. The company intends to reach a final capacity of 1.6 mt by 2012.

"We are moving ahead on our greenfield project in Orissa at a fast pace. The first phase of the project entailing an investment of Rs 2,250 crore would be completed by the year-end. Work on the second phase would be started simultaneously so that we commission the 0.8 mt plant by December, 2009," Jindal Stainless managing director and CEO V S Jain said.

He said that technical detailing and agreement for all major machinery and equipment for the new plant have been concluded. JSL has signed the contract for steel melt shop with SMS Demag, Germany, and for hot strip mill with Siemens-VAI, Austria. Once complete Jindal hopes to become one of the cheapest producers of stainless steel, as all the input linkages for the plant has already been assured.

In the first phase of the project, the company has commissioned a 1.5 lakh tonne ferro alloy plant. A 50,000 tonne ferro manganese plant will start operation by September 2007 whereas the Silico Manganese plant will start operation by November this year.

Mr. Jain said planning for the third phase expansion, after the 0.8 mt second phase, of the Orissa plant has already begun. "With full commissioning, Orissa plant would reach a capacity of 1.6 mt. This along with expansion at Hisar from 0.6-0.9 mt of stainless steel would make JSL would be amongst five producers in the world with a capacity of 2.5 mt," said Mr. Jain. When asked about overseas expansion plans, Mr. Jain said that though the company was constantly looking at attractive opportunities nothing was in the offing for now. JSL acquired Maspion Stainless, Indonesia in 2004.

The company has decided to increase its production capacity, too, from 65,000 tonne to 1, 50,000 considering the importance of the south east Asian markets.