Tata Steel to commission Kalinga Nagar plant by March 2013

Firm has invested over Rs 11,000 cr in the new plant, which will produce flat steel products

Tata Steel plans to commission the first phase of its upcoming steel plant at Kalinga Nagar in Odisha by March next year.

"It [the commissioning] will be somewhere between October and March [next year]. The first phase will have a capacity of 3.5 million tonne," Tata Steel Managing Director H M Nerurkar said here.

The company has invested over Rs 11,000 crore in the new plant, which will produce flat steel products. The company has kept a capex of about Rs 4,000 crore ($800 million) this year for the Kalinga Nagar unit.

The second phase, which will increase Kalinga Nagar steel unit's total production capacity to 5.5 million tonne per annum (mtpa), will be completed by March 2015, Nerurkar said.

He was speaking to reporters after receiving the Most Admired Company award from management consultancy firm Hay Group and Fortune India magazine yesterday.

Besides, the Tata group firm is also planning to produce around 8 million tonne of steel in the current year as it will be adding new capacity at its existing unit in Jamshedpur.

"It's [Jamshedpur expansion] almost complete. Last quarter of this year, we will operate with the increased capacity," Nerurkar said.

He added that the company will announce its borrowing plan for the current year in next two months.

"We have not yet firmed up that. There are lots of options...In next two months, we will finalise it. With Odisha coming up and Jamshedpur expansion, we will require lots of funds. Either during next month results or a month after that, we will announce it," Nerurkar said.

The company had earlier said that it has kept a capex of $2.5 billion (about Rs 12,500 crore) for the current fiscal on its existing and expansion activities.

Of this, the company will be spending $800 million on Kalinga Nagar unit, while its Tata Steel Europe would get about $600 million and the new 2.9 million tonne unit at Jamshedpur will get about $400-500 million.