In good position to deleverage from next year: Tata Steel's Chatterjee

The steel industry is clearly in a down-cycle

Tata Steel is expanding capacity at Kalinganagar in Odisha, amid a challenging environment. During a conversation in Kolkata, Koushik Chatterjee, executive director and chief financial officer, Tata Steel, tells Ishita Ayan Dutt that the capex spend for next year (FY26) will be lower than the current year, and it will be a good time to deleverage. Edited excerpts:

 

India’s economic growth in the July-September quarter slipped to a seven-quarter low of 5.4 per cent. Given the correlation with steel consumption, is it worrisome?

This is more of a cyclical deceleration rather than anything structural. The credit growth has been slower than