Tata Steel to raise $600 million this fiscal

Tata Steel plans to raise $600 million this fiscal to fund the second phase of increasing production capacity at its Kalinganagar plant to 8 mtpa from 3 mtpa, and refinance old loans.

The company has set a target of reducing gross debt by $1 billion in FY20. Its net debt stands at ₹1 lakh crore, as of March 2019.

Speaking to journalists after the company’s annual general meeting here on Friday, Koushik Chatterjee, CFO, Tata Steel, said the company is focussed on increasing free cash flow to reduce its debt burden.

The company has set a target to reduce gross debt by $1 billion (₹6,800 crore) this fiscal.

Tata Steel is also working on plans to make its European operations self sustainable after its effort to merge with Thyssenkrupp AG fell apart, as European antitrust authorities rejected the proposal.

While Tata Steel’s EBITDA levels have been improving, the profits from the domestic business may be used to service European operations debt.

Earlier, addressing the shareholders, N Chandrasekharan, Chairman, Tata Steel, said: “Our focus is on increasing capacity in India; we know the European assets have not produced returns, but efforts are on to turn it around”.