Tata Steel to pump Rs 8,000 cr in Jamshedpur

All major investment in the current fiscal will be made in Tata Steel's Jamshedpur plant as the rest of the other greenfield projects are not making any significant progress.

"We are investing Rs. 8,000 crore (Rs. 80 billion) in the current fiscal, which will be in the Jamshedpur plant," Tata Steel Managing Director H M Nerurkar said on Friday.

The Jamshedpur plant is expanding its capacity to 3 million tonnes (MT) at a cost of Rs. 20,000 crore (Rs. 200 billion). After the completion of the expansion by March 2012, the total capacity would increase to 10 MT.

Speaking about the other greenfield plants, Nerurkar said the Orissa project was progressing satisfactorily, but other projects in Jharkhand, Karnataka, Chattishgarh and Vietnam has not made much progress.

Sharing details of the Gopalpur SEZ project, Tata Steel said it would invest Rs. 800 crore (Rs. 8 billion) as anchor investor in the 50,000-tonne ferrochrome and 0.5-MT rolling mill.

Nerurkar said the company was waiting for environmental clearance which is expected in the next six months after which construction would be taken up.

Speaking about financing the proposed projects announced earlier, he said the company does not need to raise money now and the $1.1 billion realised from Riversdale has been kept liquid and would be used for capex in the forthcoming projects.

Tata Steel global debt equity is 1.5:1 but in all future projects the company would aim to keep it at 1:1.

Commenting on the tie-up with New Millennium Capital Corp on the LabMag and KeMag projects, cited as the world's largest undeveloped iron ore projects in Labrador, eastern Canada, Nerurkar said currently a feasibility study is being carried out and in the next six to eight months, more details can be shared.