JSW forays into electrical steel production

By admin April 10, 2012 9:18 am IST

Making foray into electric steel manufacturing, Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel has decided to set up a facility in collaboration with Japan’s JFE Steel in Karnataka. JFE is one of the largest integrated steel producers in Japan with extensive experience and access to advanced technologies required for the production of high quality steel products, energy management and environmental management.
The facility with 0.6 MTPA capacity will be established at JSW’s integrated steel works at Vijayanagar in Karnataka. Initially, this facility shall produce 0.4-0.5 MTPA of cold rolled non-grain oriented (CRNO) grade electrical steel.

Electrical steel is a high grade product which has seen scant development in India as the technology required is largely inaccessible. Due to the technological constraints involved in the production of electrical steel, the market is significantly dependant on imports. With the focus on energy efficient products, the Ministry of Steel as well as the Ministry of Power are pursuing aggressively with steel makers in the country to encourage domestic production of Electrical Steel. Major consuming sectors for this product are power, capital goods, consumer durables and motors for automobiles etc.
The first phase of the facility shall produce 0.2 million tonnes per annum CRNO and which shall be expected to get commissioned in next 24 months from the date of receiving requisite approvals.
JSW and JFE signed a strategic collaboration agreement in the year, 2010. In line with this agreement, both companies have already entered into agreement to collaborate in automotive steel manufacturing at Vijayanagar works and now intend to extend its collaboration to electrical steel.