Indian Seamless, Us Firm To Set Up Power Plant

The Mumbai-based Indian Seamless Steels & Alloys (ISSAL) has signed a memorandum of understanding with CSAI, a US-based non-resident Indian (NRI) group, to set up a Rs 80-crore joint venture captive power plant at Jejuri near Pune.

The naphtha-based power plant with 30mw capacity in simple cycle will generate 236 million units of power a year. The company has received the no objection certificate from the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB) and will be commissioned within a year.

The plant will supply power to the seamless metal tube manufacturing plant of the parent company, Indian Seamless Metal Tube (ISMTL), at Aurangabad. ISMTL is engaged in the manufacture of seamless tubes, tubular hollows, hydraulic cylinder tubes, axle tubes, steel rings and shells.

 

Power from this captive plant will be distributed through the MSEB grid which will would reduce the power tariff of both the units of ISSAL and ISMTL.

At present, ISSAL and ISMTL pay a tariff of Rs 3.5 crore and Rs 80 lakh a month respectively, which is expected to come down by 28-30 per cent when the captive plant goes on stream.

ISSAL will replace the current PSW mill with a continuos upstream four stand rolling mill, which will be synchronised with the present downstream eight stand continuous mill. The work on infrastructure facilities has been completed and the mill is expected to be ready by the month-end.

The mill will be installed by Schloemann Siemag (SMS) of Germany, with which ISSAL has entered into an agreement. As per the agreement, SMS will supply the mill at a concessional price besides providing soft loans.

The commissioning of the new mill will augment ISSAL's range of steel production and marketability. ISSAL, the largest private sector producer of bearing steel in India, posted a turnover of Rs 189 crore for the year ended March 31, 1997, against Rs 163.52 crore of the previous year.