Steel Authority of India Limited signs digital transformation agreement with ABB India

By Staff Report May 22, 2025 2:16 pm IST

ABB India and Steel Authority of India Limited will explore developments to improve productivity and efficiency of operations at the Rourkela Steel Plant.

ABB India and Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to digitally optimise ironmaking and steelmaking processes at the Rourkela Steel Plant in Odisha state, India. SAIL’s plant will exchange data with ABB India to prepare data-based models to create digital twins of blast furnaces and basic oxygen furnaces of steel melt shop areas.

The collaboration comes at a time of growing challenges within the steel industry, including the need to meet stricter environmental regulations, reduce operational costs, and maintain competitive advantages in a rapidly evolving market. Rourkela Steel Plant produced 4.08 million tons of saleable steel products in FY 2024-25 and SAIL plans to grow output to about 9 million tons by 2030 to meet escalating market demands. It has ambitions to attain the highest levels of operational efficiency and sustainability using digital transformation.

The plant will harness ABB’s expertise in automation and digitalisation, including mathematical and data-based models, to optimize processes in both ironmaking and steelmaking. The goal is to deliver actionable insights and enable data-driven decisions to support optimal operations, paving the way for a more sustainable and cost-effective future in steel production.

“This partnership with ABB India is a significant step towards modernizing our operations and achieving greater efficiency and sustainability,” said Biswa Ranjan Palai, Executive Director (Works), SAIL. “The development of this digital twin technology will transform our steel manufacturing processes by providing us real-time insights into furnace operations, thereby enabling us to optimise our performance, improve product quality, increase asset longevity and remain competitive in the global market.”

Kapil Agarwal, Senior Vice President and local Division Manager of Process Industries at ABB India said, “By integrating advanced data-driven models and leveraging digital twin technologies, we aim to revolutionise the steelmaking processes, ensuring higher efficiency and a reduced environmental impact.”

India’s steel industry is witnessing significant growth, with domestic demand projected to rise by 9-10 percent in FY25 (ICRA) and long-term annual growth expected between 5 percent and 7.3 percent (Deloitte). As the industry modernises with increasingly advanced steel mills and upgrades for higher energy efficiency, technologies play a crucial role in driving sustainability and productivity.