Tata Steel subsidiary Tinplate Company of India Ltd, which is looking to undertake its business independently, has been working closely with Tata Steel Europe for the last eight-nine months for operational improvements, a company official said on Tuesday.
"We have been working closely with Tata Steel Europe team in the last eight-nine months in terms of operational improvements because they are performing well in tinplate business.
"It has strong R&D and is working on several products which are new to the world in tinplate business. Therefore, we have a collaborative process," the company's Chairman Kaushik Chatterjee said here.
He also said the company was in a position to procure raw materials independently.
"Given the company's performance over the years, it is now in a position to independently procure raw materials from multiple sources. Accordingly, the company is proposing transition from the existing conversion arrangement with Tata Steel," firm's Chairman told shareholders at the 98th Annual General Meeting.
Its annual report also said that the company was in a position to "independently undertake tinplate business on its own account".
"This would not only increase the turnover of the company but would also help in expanding the company's independent profile and identity in the market," firm's latest annual report said.
As a part of restructuring plan, the company had entered into an arrangement with Tata Steel Ltd (TSL) in 1998 for conversion of steel producer's hot rolled coils (HRC) into electrolytic tinplate (ETP), which has been continuing.
The company, which has a market share of 43 per cent in India and has an installed capacity of 379,000 tonnes, also assists the steel maker in selling the same to end consumers.
The company's revenue in the last fiscal was at Rs 850 crore and it reported Rs 241 crore in total income from operations during April-June period in the current fiscal from Rs 164.54 crore in the same period last fiscal.
According to the company's annual report, the total apparent domestic consumption of tinplate in the country was around 600,000 tonne, 45 per cent of which are met by import. Consumption of tinplate grew five per cent but import exceeded at 7 per cent in 2016-17.
--IANS
bdc/nir/dg
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content
