Tata Steel begins phase-II expansion of Kalinganagar plant in Odisha; expected to be 'lowest-cost' facility in world

Bhubaneswar: The expansion of Tata Steel’s Kalinganagar plant to 8 million tons per annum capacity from 3 mtpa will incur a cost of Rs 23,500 crore and take 48 months to complete, a top company official said on Monday. The groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion was held here at the ‘Make In Odisha’ Conclave 2018 by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. The project configuration and costs include investments in raw material capacity expansion, upstream and mid-stream facilities, and infrastructure and downstream facilities. “Tata Group’s association with Odisha is very deep. It has over 100 years of relationship. Tata Steel has a very large capacity state-of-the-art plant in the state. With the phase-II expansion of Tata Steel Kalinganagar, Tata Group’s investment in the state will cross Rs 100,000 crore,” said N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Group. The total capacity of Tata Steel India operations following the expansion will be 23.6 mtpa, which includes existing capacity of 10 mtpa at Jamshedpur, 3 mtpa at Kalinganagar and 5.6 mtpa of Tata Steel BSL. “Kalinganagar has been a remarkable story for Tata Steel. Within a year of its commissioning, we were at almost full capacity utilisation, and now we are beginning the second phase of our expansion. [caption id=“attachment_4126747” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Group Reuters[/caption] “The envisaged product mix will consolidate Tata Steel’s presence in the automotive and high-end quality product market segments. The Kalinganagar facility is expected to be, one of the lowest-cost producers of steel in the world,” said TV Narendran, CEO and MD, Tata Steel. The Kalinganagar plant, which commenced commercial production in May 2016, has generated direct and indirect employment opportunities for more than 21,955 people in the state, a company official said. About 59.6 percent of the total employees engaged directly by Tata Steel are from Odisha, and 80.71 percent of the total contractors’ workforce working the company belong to the state, the official said. Tata Steel is also promoting employability training of local youths, he said. Skill Development training for placements and self-employment are being provided through Tata Steel Rural Development Society (TSRDS). In the last four years, 358 youths were imparted skilling across various sectors, the official added. Chandrasekaran also said the new 500-bed, multi-speciality hospital at Gopalpur in Ganjam district, being constructed by Tata Steel, will soon be operational. This will be in addition to an eye hospital in Gopalpur and a multi-speciality hospital in Kalinganagar.