Tata BlueScope opens unit in Hinjewadi

Tata BlueScope Steel Limited (TBSL), a 50:50 joint venture between Tata Steel and BlueScope Steel Limited of Australia, inaugurated its roll-forming and pre-engineered building material facility in Hinjewadi on Monday.

The Hinjewadi facility will manufacture Butler brand pre-engineered buildings and Lysaght brand steel building solutions. It will manufacture beams, columns, purlins, roofings and other wall-cladding components for pre-engineered metal buildings.

The factory, which has a capacity to handle 30,000 tonne of material as of now, will be upgraded to 290,000 tonne by 2010, Managing Director Chetan Tolia said.

The company is also setting up two more facilities in Bhiwadi (Rajasthan) near New Delhi and Sriperambudur near Chennai. All the three facilities will be supplied with aluminium-coated and pre-painted steel from the company's upcoming factory in Jamshedpur, Jharkhand.

Tolia added that the company is upbeat about the growing interest in infrastructure and industrial sectors in India and intends cashing in on the opportunity by offering solutions that can be put in place in a short time.

"Our materials reduce dependence on RCC foundation and prove cost-effective in the long run," Tolia said.

Pointing out to the growth in commercial construction activity in India across sectors, Tolia noted that Tata BlueScope products will help customers get started fast in the market.

Tata Steel managing director B Muthuraman said that the company intends to play an important role in increasing the consumption of steel in the country by offering products that can increasingly replace concrete.

Structures built in steel are a proven concept in the developed world and are catching up fast in the Asia markets, he said, adding that the company will work closely with the architects community as well as the main constituents of the civil engineering sector.

Kathryn Fragg, chairman, Tata BlueScope Steel and BlueScope Steels' president for the Asia market, said the Indian venture will be an important step in the company's plans for Asia and SAARC region.

The company is present in Sri Lanka, Thailand and China, she informed. Tolia said the Pune facility will have a design team, which will create new concepts, products and applications of steel in buildings.

"The design team will work largely for India and SAARC operations of the company," he added.

According to him, the company has planned an investment of Rs 1,300 crore to create the three facilities and the coating and pre-painting plant in Jamshedpur. This plant will be commissioned in 2008 and will have a capacity of 250,000 tonne for coating and 150,000 tonne for painting, he said.

"The company is estimating a sales turnover of Rs 1,200 crore by the end of financial year 2010," he informed.