Street furniture

Jindal Steel designs products for public spaces

India consumes less than one per cent of the total global stainless steel production. It lags behind South East Asia which consumes about 20 per cent of the total production. But things may be quietly changing.

Keeping pace with global trends in construction, India is fast adopting stainless steel as an architectural material for its unique properties like zero-maintenance and its non-corrosive and fire-resistant character.

India is no longer cladding just houses, restaurants and offices in stainless steel but also making inroads into public spaces like malls and public parks with its street furniture.

Street furniture includes bus shelters, garbage bins, benches, railings and signages. Considering the huge demand for better maintained public spaces in the country, the street furniture market in India is estimated to be Rs 7,000 crore.

And when the posh neighbourhood of Mumbai's Walkeshwar Beach decided to spruce up its sea-facing view-point, it decided to opt for stainless steel. The job was given to Arc, the new architecture division of the Rs 2,700 crore Jindal Stainless Steel company.

Arc, which started its operations six months ago, designs prototype street furniture and is also introducing stainless steel modular railings, kitchen tiles, wall skirting and glass fitting fixtures. It also designs building exteriors.

"There is a huge scope for business," says Jasbir Bindra, chief executive officer of Jindal Stainless' architecture division. "There is demand for these products and we provide fully-integrated service in fabrication."

That there is a demand for the stainless steel products is quite evident from the business generated by Bindra's architecture division. Within a short period, the division has clocked a revenue of Rs 8 crore and has sold benches to malls like Centrestage in Noida and the MGF Mall in Gurgaon. Its basket-shaped garbage bins have been installed in the Garden of Five Senses in Delhi.

Bindra expects most of the businesses to come from multiplexes and new corporate offices. He is projecting a turnover of

Rs 25 crore next year. The company has also done projects for real estate companies like the Ansals, Vipul and Omaxe.

In July, it plans to bid for the public space design projects in Mumbai and Delhi and is due to set up a mockup for approval soon. "We are trying to make the products as cost effective as possible," says Bindra. The company has a manufacturing plant in Bahadurgarh, Haryana. For the exports market, it has hired the US-based designer William Perry to work on the furniture collection. "In this range we want to combine stainless steel with traditional Indian craft," he says.

Jindal's other division "" Art D'nox "" is into table top accessories and clocked Rs 20 crore turnover last year.