SJK Steel chalks out Rs 1,200 cr spend

The Andhra Pradesh government has promised all support to the proposed expansion plans of SJK Steel to keep with the state's industrial policy. SJK plans to scale up its capacity to 1 million tonne from the present 270,000 tonne, for an investment of around Rs 1,200 crore by the promoters.

Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, chief executive officer of the Brazilian steel company Gerdau SA, which holds a 45 per cent equity on a par with that of Baba N Kalyani group in the company, and representatives of Kalyani Steels on Tuesday met chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy to brief on their company's plans apart from seeking incentives from the government for the same.

It may be recalled that Kalyani Steels Ltd had entered into a joint venture partnership with the Brazilian steel company by offering a 45 per cent stake in SJK Steel, which it bought for Rs 30 crore last year, for expanding the capacity of the plant.

Gerdau has a capacity to produce close to 16 million tonne of steel in Brazil and the joint venture with Kalyani Steels is its first Asian investment foray.

Industries department officials said the government had committed to extend incentives that were part of the state industrial policy 2005-10 to the company.

SJK Steel is an integrated alloy steel plant spread over an area of 900 acre at Tadipatri in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.