JSW Steel to invest Rs 7,500 crore to expand Vijayanagar facility

JSW Steel on Wednesday revealed plans to invest Rs 7,500 crore until March 2020 to push the production capacity at its Vijayanagar facility in Karnataka to 13 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).

Currently, the plant has a 12-mtpa capacity, the company said in a release.

“We plan to expand the steel manufacturing capacity of the Vijayanagar unit in Karnataka to 13 mtpa by FY20,” the release said, adding, the capacity expansion and project upgrades will entail a capital investment of Rs 7,500 crore until March 2020.

Its project to revamp and upgrade capacity of blast furnace-3 at the Vijayanagar plant is on track, JSW Steel said.

The project will improve hot metal availability and modify and enhance capacity of its steel melting shop, the flat and long products mills, along with allied facilities to utilise this additional hot metal.

The company also mulling to set up a 1.5-mtpa coke oven plant in Karnataka to bridge the current and expected gaps in coke availability, which is likely to be commissioned by March 2020, according to the release.

JSW Steel expects the coke oven unit to provide significant cost savings over the long term.

“With steel consumption in India expected to grow, these capacity enhancement initiatives will ensure our readiness to promptly service emerging customer demand,” said Vinod Nowal, deputy managing director, JSW Steel.

The company also announced that it has started operations at Tunga and Nandi iron ore mines in Karnataka, for which it has received statutory clearances. The total capacity of these two iron ore mines is 0.71 mtpa.

The steel-maker expects early statutory clearances and approvals for the remaining three mines of the five acquired by the company last year.

The company is also increasing the capacity of CRM-1 complex at Vijayanagar works from 0.8 mtpa to 1 mtpa and setting up a 0.3-mtpa colour-coated line as a part of its growth strategy, the release added.