Neelachal Ispat acquisition crucial for Tata Steel growth path: Official

Describing winning the bid for acquiring a majority stake in Odisha-based Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) as "crucial" for the company's growth trajectory, Tata Steel on Tuesday said it provides enablers to go well beyond the 40 MTPA (million tonne per annum) target.

Tata Steel arm - Tata Steel Long Products (TSLP)- had in January this year won the bid to acquire a 93.71 per cent stake in NINL at an enterprise value of Rs 12,100 crore leaving behind the likes of a consortium of Jindal Steel and Power Limited, Nalwa Steel and Power Ltd, and JSW Steel Limited.

"We have acquired NINL as part of the government's disinvestment programme which is of great strategic and operational value to Tata Steel. The acquisition of NINL provides a significant opportunity for Tata Steel to not only restart the 1 million tonnes per annum steel plant expeditiously but also begin work immediately to build a 4.5 million tonnes per annum state-of-the-art long products complex in the next few years, a Tata Steel official told PTI.

The company plans to further expand it to 10 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by around 2030, the official said.

"We had earlier announced our ambition to achieve 40 MTPA in India, and NINL acquisition strengthens this growth plan over the next decade while providing the enablers to go well beyond the 40 MTPA target," the official said.

Tata Steel's annual crude steel capacity across Indian operations is nearly 20 MTPA and it registered a turnover of Rs 91,037 crore in FY21.

NINL is a joint venture of four CPSEs, namelyTC, NMDC, BHEL, MECON, and two Odisha government PSUs, namely OMC and IPICOL. NINL has an integrated steel plant with a capacity of 1.1 million tonnes (MT), at Kalinganagar, Odisha. The company has been running in huge losses and the plant is closed since March 30, 2020.

The steel giant will complete the acquisition of NINL by the end of the current quarter.

Tata Steel had reported production of 19.06 million tonnes in 2021-2022 fiscal.

The Jamshedpur-based behemoth acquired Bhushan Steel in 2018, followed by Usha Martin in 2019.

Tata Steel was established in India as Asia's first integrated private steel company in 1907 and is a leading global steel company at present.