SAIL has opted out of a proposed joint venture for setting up an integrated manufacturing unit for electrical steel. The proposed special steel venture will now be led by RINL.
BHEL, MOIL, and Power Grid Corporation are likely partners in the proposed venture.
Mr M. Sudhakar, ED (Projects), RINL, confirmed the development to
SAIL was a member of the joint technical committee and participated in several rounds of discussion for the proposed project.
According to Steel Ministry sources, the joint venture is expected to take shape in the next three months.
However, RINL would have the majority equity stake in the Rs 3,000 crore project, which will be located at the Vizag Steel Plant.
EOI soon
It has been decided that the plant will produce two grades of electrical or silicon steel — CRGO (cold rolled grain-oriented silicon) and CRNO (cold rolled non-grain oriented silicon). The proposed facility will initially produce 1.5 lakh tonnes a year of CRGO and one lakh tonnes of CRNO.
These value-added special steel grades are used in heavy electrical equipment and in the infrastructure sector. BHEL is one of the main domestic users of electrical steel. It has also been decided that RINL will seek global expressions of interest (EOI) from the owners of the technology in the next couple of weeks. “The document is ready for official publication”, Mr Sudhakar admitted.
The proposed production facility will be in collaboration with a proven technology owner, who may be allowed a minority equity stake.
There are a few owners of this technology, mostly major global steel makers, and not the international equipment vendors.
The project is envisaged to be complete in 40 months and is to be synchronized with RINL's phased expansion.