The Hindu Business Line : Tata Steel targets 15 mt output by 2015

REMEMBER the slogan, `Think of colour, think of us - Jenson and Nicholson'? Now, the same slogan with a small change. `See any car plying on the road and think of us - Tata Steel' is how Dr Amit Chatterjee, Advisor to the Managing Director, Tata Steel, would like the company to be known.

Talking to presspersons, Dr Chatterjee said the company has set a target of touching 15 million tonnes of steel by 2015.

"The company is making changes in such a manner that whatever has not been achieved during the past 97 years of its history, would be carried out within a five-year timeframe," he said. To put this action in place, the company is set to invest close to Rs 8,000 crore, Dr Chatterjee said.

The company, which currently has a production capacity of 4 million tonnes (mt) at its Jamshedpur facility, is upgrading to produce 7.4 mt by 2008. It will also have a new blast furnace and a production line that will produce coils directly from liquid steel.

Part of the 7.4-mt production has already been achieved with Tata Steel acquiring Nat Steel recently. This has given them an additional 2.4 mt capacity.

Dr Chatterjee said the company would manufacture the 7.4 mt of steel with a staff strength of 30,000.

The company is also setting up a 6-mt capacity plant in Orissa to meet the total target of 15 mt. Dr Chatterjee said the company has forayed into titanium and ferrochrome areas.

The company has set up a ferrochrome plant in South Africa in Richard's Bay with a capacity of 1,25,000 tonnes and has invested close to Rs 800 crore in this facility. The chromite will be taken from India, converted into ferrochrome in South Africa and brought back, he said.

Tata Steel is doubling its capacity at the Bamnipal facility in Orissa from 50,000 tonnes to 1,20,000 tonnes of ferrochrome.

Making a small entry into the gas segment, the company is sending iron ore across to Bangladesh and then using the gas available there for the manufacture of steel. Dr Chatterjee said the company is also looking closely at platinum.

Dr Chatterjee said India, which has a current production level of 32 mt of steel, is gearing up to have a production output of about 120 mt, which would achieved by 2015. Thus, bringing up the country to the second position, next only to China, he said.