Arcelormittal-sail to produce auto steel in India in 3 years
NEW DELHI: India’s state-owned steel firm will start producing automotive steel in a $1 billion partnership with Arcelormittal in three years, a top government official said, helping cut imports of high-grade steel as the country revs up car manufacturing.
Steel Authority of India Ltd has approved entering into a “non-binding” agreement of terms on the joint venture with the world’s biggest maker of the alloy, the state steelmaker said in a statement on Wednesday, confirming a report from December 7 on the impending approval.
SAIL said a definitive agreement with Arcelormittal would be “finalised in due course subject to financial viability”, but steel secretary Aruna Sharma told on Friday that the joint venture would start production in three years.
Sharma, the top civil servant in the steel ministry, which controls SAIL through the govern- ment’s 75% stake in the steelmaker, did not elaborate on the time or other details.
SAIL spokesman MC Agrawal said the company and Arcelormittal have cleared the first stage in the process of signing a formal agreement on the automotive steel venture, but that it was too early to talk about any production deadline.
An Arcelormittal spokeswoman did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
SAIL and Arcelormittal signed a preliminary understanding in 2015 to jointly produce 1.2 million tonnes of automotive steel a year.
However, disagreements over commercial terms have delayed the venture that would give the Luxembourg-based company a foothold in the world’s fastest growing steel market.