Jindal Stainless plans Rs 6,000 cr expansion

The bulk of this investment will be made in the phase-II development of its stainless steel plant in Jajpur, Orissa.  "We will spend about Rs 5,600 crore for setting up capacity of 8 lakh tonnes (0.8 million tonnes) per annum of steel in Jajpur. The plant will be commissioned by 2012," Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Ratan Jindal told journalists.  The company will borrow Rs 3,200 crore from Indian and foreign banks for the project, while Rs 1,000 crore would be raised through external commercial borrowings. Another Rs 1,200 crore would be invested through internal accruals. "The promoters will infuse equity of the balance amount of Rs 200 crore," Jindal said.  The company has already spent Rs 2,250 crore for 0.8 million tonnes capacity in phase-I at Jajpur.  The expansion of the company's plant at Hissar in Haryana, would require Rs 400 crore.  "We will take our current cold rolling capacity of 0.275 million tonnes at Hissar to about 0.4 million tonnes by the end of next year," Jindal said. The investment in Hissar plant would be made mainly through internal accruals.  With new capacity being planned in two phases of 0.8 million tonnes each in Orissa, the total capacity of the company would be 2.5 million tonnes by 2012, making Jindal one of the largest integrated stainless steel manufacturers in the world.  The company also plans to expand its ferro-chrome unit in Vietnam from 60,000 tonnes to 2,00,000 tonnes.  Started in 1970, Jindal Stainless is part of the $6 billion Jindal Group.  Buoyed by the success of its service centre format of business, the company is planning to also set up such centres globally.  The service centres provide customised products and distribution services in steel to meet specific requirements of consumer durables and automotive industries. The company has one such centre at Gurgaon another near Mumbai, and it plans to set up two more in Gujarat and Chennai.