mjunction to sell steel in South East Asia

mjunction services (formerly metaljunction) is looking for extending its services beyond India.The company is planning to sell steel and other metals in South East Asia.

Viresh Oberoi, managing director, mjunction said the company would be approaching the board with the new plan. mjunction happens to be a 50:50 joint venture between Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Tata Steel.

As in the domestic market, the new plan will entail tying up with local units and transportation companies. Oberoi said, currently no other company had such a model in South East Asia.However, the new plan was still on the drawing board.

After announcing a host of new initiatives last year, mjunction has lined up more for this year. mjunction will have a transaction turnover of Rs 8,300 crore in 2006-07 compared to Rs 5,300 crore last year. mjunction has sold close to five million tonne, making it the world's largest electronic steel market place.

In the coming fiscal, mjunction is eyeing a 50-55 per cent growth over this year's transactions. In the domestic market too, mjunction has lined up new services, in tandem with the change in name. The company was one of the shortlisted entities for drawing up the electronic auction of tea for the Tea Board of India.

New products could also be added to mjunction's portfolio. Oberoi, however, did not elaborate on the other new plans.

Last year, mjunction launched autojunction and straightline. Oberoi said the company hence decided to change its name from metaljunction to assist in its growth plans.

Straightline is a business to consumer (B2C) initiative and the company had so far focused on the business to business (B2B) segment.

With a catalogue based order generation capability, a complete fulfillment service including online payment and doorstep delivery, the service is currently present in Kolkata and the national capital region for the sale of SAIL TMT bars.