Tata Steel completes 5MT Kalinganagar expansion; capacity crosses 26MT

Tata Steel on Thursday announced the completion of the phase II expansion project at Kalinganagar in Odisha, taking its overall capacity to 26.1 million tonnes (MT) in the country.

With the completion of the 5 million tonne expansion project undertaken at an investment of Rs 27,000 crore, the capacity of Kalinganagar plant stands at 8 MT from 3 MT earlier, the steelmaker said in a statement.

Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi inaugurated the expanded Tata Steel Kalinganagar (TSK) plant on Thursday.

TV Narendran, CEO and Managing Director, Tata Steel, said: "This expansion reflects our deep belief in Odisha's potential and our long-term commitment to this State. Kalinganagar is more than a manufacturing site for us. It symbolises what is possible when communities, government, and industry work together."  Tata Steel aims to target supply advanced high-strength steels for sectors like automotive, infrastructure, power, shipbuilding, and defence with the expansion.

Odisha has emerged as the single largest investment destination for Tata Steel.

Earlier Tata Steel had said it has made a total cumulated investment of over Rs 100,000 crore in the last 10 years in the state. Besides Kalinganagar, the capacity of Tata Steel Meramandali (erstwhile Bhushan Steel) is 5.6 MT, Tata Steel Jamshedpur 11, Tata Steel Gamharia and NINL 1 MT each.

The company commenced the Rs 27,000-crore second phase of expansion of its Kalinganagar project in Odisha in November 2018. The new blast furnace at Kalinganagar, with a volume of 5,870 cubic meteres of inner volume is the largest in India. The expansion project includes raw material capacity expansion, upstream and mid -stream facilities, infrastructure and downstream facilities including a cold rolling mill complex.