Tata Metaliks plans new unit at Kharagpur

Tata Metaliks is considering to set up a steel making facility with a capacity between 500,000 tonne and 800,000 tonne at Kharagpur in West Bengal.

Addressing a press conference, T Mukherjee, chairman of Tata Metaliks, said, the company is in favour of a new plant and a feasibility study of the proposal was being done to assess the investment required for the project.

The investment could vary, depending on whether new equipments would be used, said Mukherjee.

The plant would manufacture steel billets and specialised castings.

Tata Metaliks has already approached West Bengal Industrial and Development Corporation (WBIDC) for additional in Kharagpur, in close proximity to its existing plant.

A decision about the project would be taken over the next two months.

Tata Metaliks today announced its results. The company has posted a profit before tax (PBT) 101.54 crore on a turnover of Rs 312.27 crore in 2004-05 a PBT of Rs 37.97 crore on a turnover of Rs 157.56 crore in the previous year.

The company reported a profit after tax (PAT) of Rs 64.10 crore, an increase of 158 per cent from last year's Rs 24.81 crore.

The company yielded a record production of 1,66,031 tonne of hot metal ( as against an installed capacity of 1,63,000 tonne) from its first mini blast furnace, which has increased by 31.2 per cent from last year.

The total despatch of pig iron for the last fiscal was 1,63,483 tonne, an increase of 34.5 per cent from last year's corresponding figure of 1,21,536 tonne.

Tata Metaliks recorded the maiden production of 1,771 tonne of hot metal from its second mini blast furnace.

With the combined capacity of the two furnaces and the technological upgradations incorporated, the company would produce 3,20,000 tonne of pig iron in 2005-06.

The second blast furnace would augment capacity of the plant to 320,000 tonne of pig iron, which would translate into revenues in excess of Rs 500 crore. The capital expenditure for the blast furnace was to the tune of Rs 50 crore.

Tata Metaliks was also exploring possibilities in backward linkages and has applied for coal and iron ore blocks in Jharkhand and Orissa.

At present, Tata Metaliks' plant was located on a 200 acre plot.

The expansion project would generate direct employment of 600-800 and an indirect employment of 15,000. Currently, Tata Metaliks has an employee strength of 290.