Tata prefers growing organically over acquisitions this decade

Tata Steel aims to expand the capacity through organic growth at its existing facilities to grow its steel production capacity to 40-50 million tonnes/year through 2030, from the existing 20m t/y, it says. It doesn’t need to acquire new assets to reach its production goals, Kallanish notes.

“Most of our growth in the last few years has been through the inorganic route (acquisitions),” Tata Steel ceo and managing director TV Narendran informed local media. “Currently, we are in a position where all our growth ambitions can be met through organic growth in our existing sites.”

Recently acquired Neelachal Ispat Nigam (NINL) will see production capacity ramped up to 10m t/y from the existing 1m t/y, the ceo said. Whereas, the Kalinganagar plant will see an expansion to 8m t/y from 3m t/y, and later to 16m t/y.

Tata Steel announced it is cutting all business ties with Russia amid the Russian military invasion of Ukraine. “We typically buy close to 15 MT of coal annually, of which around 3 MT used to come from Russia… which can be easily be sourced from countries like Australia, Indonesia, and Canada,” Narendran concluded.

Tata Steel also aims to install electric arc furnaces in the north, south and west of India to achieve its target of doubling its existing steelmaking capacity to 40m t/y by 2030 (see Kallanish passim). The move will result in the steelmaker using significantly more scrap as feedstock and thus be good for the environment.

Tata Steel India’s crude steel production surged 13% on-year to an annual record 19.06mt in the fiscal year ended 31 March 2022 (FY22), against 16.92mt produced a year earlier. Deliveries picked up by 6% to 18.27mt, mainly on the back of strong domestic demand generated from the automotive, industrial and retail sectors.

Sayed Aameer India