Tata Steel, which reported a massive Rs 5,674 crore loss in the March quarter due to non-cash write downs, today said it will spend Rs 10,000 crore in capex this fiscal as it hopes demand conditions to improve over the next few quarters.
"We will spend Rs 10,000 crore in capex in the current year, which is 20-25 per cent lower than Rs 13,500 crore we had spent in FY15 and Rs 16,500 crore in FY 14," Tata Steel Group Executive Director Koushik Chatterjee told reporters here this evening.
The reduction was because the company is near completion of its largest greenfield project in Odisha, on which it has already spent Rs 21,000 crore as of March 2015, he said.
"The reduction in capex plan is due to completion of our greenfield projects. We used to spend around Rs 7,000 crore annually and then increased capex over the years," Chatterjee said, adding the phase I of Kalinganagar project in Odisha will be completed by October.
It reported a massive Rs 5,674 crore loss in the March quarter against net profit of Rs 1,035.87 crore year-ago.
Total consolidated income of the firm declined by 21 per cent to Rs 33,666.18 crore in January-March quarter of 2014-15 fiscal, from Rs 42,428.05 crore in the same quarter of the 2013-14.
For the 2014-15 fiscal, the firm posted consolidated net loss of Rs 3,925.52 crore. It had reported a net profit of Rs 3,594.89 crore in 2013-14, while its consolidated total income declined to Rs 1,39,503.73 crore in 2014-15, from Rs 1,48,613.55 crore during 2013-14.
The construction of the Kalinganagar project has been progressing well and heating of the coke ovens commenced in the second week of May. The project will follow commissioning sequence over the next six months as each facility gets commissioned, he said.
In addition, the first phase of the Gopalpur ferro-chrome plant will be operational by October, Tata Steel India and Southeast Asia managing director T V Narendran said.
