JSW Steel to double Dolvi capacity to 10 mtpa by 2019

JSW Steel Ltd today said its domestic expansion was well on track at its Dolvi unit in Maharashtra, which would double capacity to 10 million tonne per annum at an estimated cost of Rs 15,000 crore by the end of 2019.

"We are installing a new integrated 5-million tonne capacity flat steel plant at Dolvi. Work is going on and is likely to be completed by December 2019," JSW President (Operations) Partha Sengupta said here on the sidelines of Metals Conclave 2018, organised by the Bengal Chamber.

The Dolvi unit was recently ramped up to five million tonne from three million tonne.

Once the expansion is complete, Dolvi would have only 1.5 million tonne of long products, while the rest would be flat products.

JSW Steel acquired the Dolvi plant from debt-laden Ispat Steel for Rs 2,157 crore in 2010.

Sengupta said expansion work is also being carried out at Vijaynagar, which is the largest single site, having an installed capacity of 12 million tonne.

The company had environmental clearances to increase the capacity at the Vijaynagar plant from 12 million tonne to 16 million tonne, while at Dolvi, from 5 million tonne to 10 million tonne.

JSW Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal, in the annual report for 2017-18, had said it was looking at inorganic growth in both domestic and international markets, as well as organic growth.

By March 2020, the company was aiming at an installed capacity of around 24 million tonne per annum from the existing 18 million tonne.

The company has also chalked out big plans for the US market to produce American melted and manufactured steel with a total capacity of 4 million tonne per annum, at an investment of USD 1 billion.

It had recently taken over an integrated flat steel-making facility in the US - Acero Junction Holdings - with a potential capacity of 3 mtpa for an enterprise value of USD 182 million.