Tag Archives: India

18Jul 2012

SAIL, Kobe Steel seal pact to bring environment-friendly steel making to India

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Tokyo, Japan: India’s largest steel maker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Kobe Steel of Japan today signed a memorandum of agreement at Kobe’s headquarters in Tokyo for setting up a 0.5 million tonne per annum iron nugget making plant using Kobe’s patented ITmK3 technology at SAIL’s Alloy Steels Plant in Durgapur, West Bengal, India with an investment of Rs. 1,500 crore. As per the agreement, SAIL and Kobe Steel will be entitled to equal share of production from the plant for captive use. A joint venture company ‘SAIL-Kobe Iron India Pvt. Ltd.’ in which SAIL and Kobe Steel hold equal equity, has already been incorporated.

The agreement was signed by SAIL Chairman Mr. C.S. Verma and Kobe Steel President & CEO Mr. N. Sato in the august presence of Shri Beni Prasad Verma, Union Minister for Steel, Govt. of India, Shri D.R.S. Chaudhary, Secretary (Steel), Govt. of India, Shri U.P. Singh, Joint Secretary (Steel), Govt. of India, and other senior Indian officials from SAIL & Kobe Steel including Shri Rakesh Kulshreshtha, Executive Director, SAIL & Chairman, SAIL-Kobe Iron India Pvt Limited.

Speaking on the occasion, Steel Minister Shri Beni Prasad Verma expressed his happiness at the joint venture of SAIL and Kobe Steel and was optimistic about more projects for the Indian steel industry with the help of Japanese technology. “The ITmK3 technology will also utilise dump iron ore fines, disposal of which has become an environmental issue,” he said. Secretary (Steel) Shri D.R.S. Chaudhury assured that Ministry of Steel, Govt. of India would provide full support for the project.

SAIL Chairman Mr. C.S. Verma remarked, “With this joint venture with Kobe, SAIL is going to achieve twin objectives of bringing in latest technology to the country, and also adopting environment-friendly processes. This will be a milestone in the history of SAIL, setting new benchmarks of international collaboration in the field of iron-making. This is the first step of our collaboration with Kobe which could extend to other areas in future.”

Expressing his earnest wish that ITmk3 technology will contribute, through this joint venture project with SAIL, to further development of Indian Steel industry, Kobe Steel President Mr Sato agreed with SAIL Chairman stating “this ITmk3 JV project will become a golden opportunity for the both companies to explore other fields where we can collaborate for mutual benefit”.

Kobe Steel is one of the prominent steel makers of Japan, which is the world’s second largest steel producing country. It is one of the largest suppliers of alloy steels to Japanese automobile companies. Besides ITmK3, Kobe has also developed new cutting-edge technologies like the Midrex process which has been recognised the world over for producing iron using gaseous fuel. Both ITmK3 and Midrex technologies have successfully replaced coal as an input material for iron making and are recognised for their low energy consumption and environment friendliness.

Known as pioneers in iron & steel R&D, Kobe Steel has developed new products and technologies which have enormous utilisation potential in numerous industries and social infrastructure development. This gives an opportunity for Indian steel firms to enter into strategic relationships with Kobe Steel so that strengths of respective companies could be leveraged.

The SAIL-Kobe Steel JV project will harness the strengths of both the leading steel companies. While SAIL will contribute land, iron ore and other engineering services for the project, Kobe steel will provide the technology for setting up the plant and its operation. In a way it is win-win situation for both.

SAIL and Kobe Steel had earlier signed an MoU on 30th March 2010 for conducting a joint feasibility study for exploring and commercialisation of ITmk3 technology developed by Kobe for production of iron nuggets used for steel production. The pre-feasibility study prima facie establishes that the project is economically viable.

For production of 0.5 MT of iron nuggets, the plant to be set up at SAIL’s Alloy Steels Plant in Durgapur will require around 0.8 MT of iron ore fines per annum. The Gua Iron Ore Mines of SAIL will supply 0.64 MTpa of fines from fresh arisings and 0.16 MTpa from dumped fines to meet this requirement. Output from the proposed plant will be shared between SAIL and Kobe Steel for captive use in their own plants/joint ventures.

ITMk3 stands for ‘iron making technology mark three’. This is a proprietary technology of Kobe for producing a premium quality pig iron (nuggets). One of the features of ITmk3 process is that it can produce iron nuggets by utilising relatively low-grade iron ore fines and non-coking coal as major raw materials and does not require either iron ore lump or blast furnace coke/coking-coal. Also, ITmK3 does not require coke oven plant or sinter plant for producing iron nuggets. CO2 emission is also less as compared to production through the blast furnace route, making the technology very environment-friendly.

18Jul 2012

Steel Minister gives warm send-off to wrestlers for London Olympic

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New Delhi: Union Minister for Steel Shri Beni Prasad Verma today gave a warm send-off to two Indian wrestlers, Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt, who will participate in the London Olympics, at a simple function held at Udyog Bhawan. Sushil Kumar will be India’s flag-bearer at the London Olympics opening ceremony on July 27, 2012. Maharatna Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), a PSU under the Ministry of Steel, has been providing financial support for the training and other requirements of the wrestlers.

Wishing them success at the Olympics, the Steel Minister urged the wrestlers to bring home laurels, and lauded SAIL for being a frontrunner in sports promotion. He also took stock of the players’ preparedness for the coming international event. SAIL Chairman Shri C.S. Verma, too, wished victory for the wrestlers and said that SAIL has conviction in their capabilities and prowess for bringing glory to the nation. Referring to the wrestlers, SAIL Chairman added, “these players hold out hope and promise for all aspiring athletes in our country, and SAIL is committed to the task of spotting such talent, and honing it to meet international standards”.

Sushil Kumar had come to SAIL’s notice for his consistent efforts in improving his performance four years ago. Taking a decision to promote this not-so-well-known wrestler who had had beaten Leonid Spiridonov (Kazakhstan) to win the bronze in the 2006 Doha Asian Games, SAIL had since then supported him and two other wrestlers, including Yogeshwar Dutt, to help them find their rightful place in the history of Indian sports. Sushil Kumar upheld SAIL’s firm belief in his prowess when he won the bronze medal in the men’s 66-kg freestyle category at the Beijing Olympics 2008, gold in the World Wrestling Championship in 2010 and the gold medal in the freestyle 66-kg category at the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi. He was conferred with the Arjuna Award in 2006 and Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna in 2009.

Yogeshwar Dutt, who had won golds in the 2003, 2005, 2010 CWG held in Canada, South Africa and India respectively, is now focusing his attention on winning gold at the forthcoming London Olympics. Dutt also received the Arjuna Award for 2008-09.

SAIL’s commitment to promotion of sporting talent, right since inception, has also found real expression through the sports academies set up by the company in its plant locations. Several cadets from SAIL sports academies for hockey, football, athletics and archery have made the nation proud. Cadets in these academies are provided sophisticated training by former sportspersons of national repute. Birendra Lakra, an alumnus of SAIL’s Hockey Academy at Rourkela, is also on his way to London as part of the Indian hockey contingent to participate in the Olympics.

30Dec 2011

Despite mineral resource, India lags behind China

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Kolkata, (Coal Geology/IBNS) Despite having rich metal and mineral resource, India lags behind other countries like China, Australia, South Africa and Brazil which have developed on the basis of minerals, said a top official here on Saturday.

Addressing the Conference on Mining, Metals and Environment coinciding with the Biz Bridge 2011, H M Nerurkar, Co-Chairman, CII Manufacturing Council & Chairman, Mining & Metals Subcommittee, CII Eastern Region and Managing Director, Tata Steel, very specifically pointed out the challenges and deterrents in the path of mining and metals industry of the country.

Despite having rich metal and mineral resource, India lags behind other countries like China, Australia, South Africa and Brazil which have developed on the basis of minerals, he said.

Nerurkar said that the GDP contribution by the mining industry has gone down noticeably. He specified lack of comprehensive regulatory policies, poor infrastructure, insufficient skilled manpower and unavailability of concrete data as the key hindrances in the path of growth of this sector.

“Good policies need to be charted out and applied reasonably for this sector to benefit, robust infrastructure needs to be developed and young, energetic, knowledgeable people must be attracted to work in this sector,” he said.
 Government authorities and the related agencies like GSI etc. need to work toward exploration of the resources to the fullest, he said.
He suggested that the industry should aim at 10% GDP contribution in the coming years.

Shakeel Ahmed, Chairman & Managing Director, Hindustan Copper Ltd expressed his concern over the slow pace of growth of the mining and minerals sector attributing to only about 2.25% of GDP growth.

Talking of the weaknesses in this field he firstly referred to India as an underexplored country with ample resources yet to be explored. Strong regulatory regime is to be set up as the existing ones are not that helpful.
Another important challenge that he pointed out was the unruly time and indecision regarding the mining lease. Ahmed urged CII to act in concern to expedite the process.

Moreover, he said the ruling state government must sincerely put an effort to utilize the royalty received from the mines solely for the development of the region.

According to Ahmed, environment must not act as an obstacle in the path of establishing new mines. An effective way to balance the two fields is to plant more trees than the ones felled.
“Employment and growth must be the key concern alongside sustainability of environment. Talent deficit also need to be fulfilled by enhancing the quality of lifestyle in and around the mines. The industry should aim at increasing the GDP contribution to about 10%.”

Biswadip Gupta, Joint Managing Director & CEO, JSW Bengal Steel Ltd. held technology and cost competitiveness as the areas that need immediate intervention. Technological advancement is the need of the hour.

“Technology should be utilized appropriately in order to refine the coarse resources. Lot of work has already being started. Tie ups with technologically advanced countries can be highly beneficial.”
Talking of the cost competitiveness, he said that although the industry does not have any control on the input costs, bringing technology into effective action can make the industry globally competitive.
 He stressed that only after exploring the domestic markets, manufacturers must step into the international market.

Naushad A Ansari, Executive Director & Member of the Board, Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. through an extensive presentation depicted the essential challenges lying in front of the mining and metals industry specially steel. Availability of raw materials is an area of great concern for the industry.

“Mostly the mines due to their presence in the jungle areas cause a lot problem in extracting the raw materials. Land identification process has to be started,” he said.
“The infertile land must be identified and procured for the putting up of factories. Talent management is another aspect that needs immediate attention.”

Srikumar Menon, Managing Director, BOC India Pvt. Ltd. shared his insights on the role of gas industry for the development of metals and mining industry, while S K Bhaumik, Senior Vice President-Flat Products, Danielli India Ltd. talked of quality enhancement and increasing production capacity through technology.

11Jul 2011

Thermal Power in India, Market Outlook to 2020

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July 2011, DUBLIN–(Coal geology–Research and Markets has announced the addition of GlobalData’s new report “Thermal Power in India, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update – Capacity, Generation, Regulations, Power Plants, Companies” to their offering.

“Thermal Power in India, Market Outlook to 2020, 2011 Update – Capacity, Generation, Regulations, Power Plants, Companies”

This report gives a view of the country’s thermal energy market and provides forecasts to 2020. This report includes information on thermal (coal, oil and gas) installed capacity and generation. It provides information on key trends, profiles of major industry participants, information on major power plants and analysis of important deals. This along with detailed information on the regulatory framework and key policies governing the industry, provides a comprehensive understanding of the market for thermal power in the country. This report is built using data and information sourced from proprietary databases, primary and secondary research and in-house analysis by GlobalData’s team of industry experts.

Scope:

Brief introduction to the overall power and thermal energy market in the country, highlighting the fuel types – coal, oil and gas
Data provided historically from 2000 to 2010, forecast to 2020
Data on installed capacity and power generation
List of major companies and deal analysis

Reasons to Buy:

Identify key growth and investment opportunities in the country’s thermal energy market.
Position yourself to gain the maximum advantage of the industry’s growth potential.

Key Topics Covered:

Global Thermal Power Market Scenario: 2000-2020
Thermal Power Markets: Technology Types
India Power Market Scenario
Indian Thermal Power Market, 2000-2020
India Thermal Power Market, Market Share of Top Power Equipment Manufacturing Companies, 2009
India Thermal Power Plants
India Thermal Power Market, Regulatory Scenario, Major Policies
India Thermal Power Market – Deals Scenario
NTPC Limited – Company Snapshot
Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited – Company Snapshot
Damodar Valley Corporation – Company Snapshot
Torrent Power Limited – Company Snapshot
Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) Limited – Company Snapshot

Companies Mentioned:

NTPC Limited
Gujarat State Electricity Corporation Limited
Damodar Valley Corporation
Torrent Power Limited
Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) Limited

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3f8c54/thermal_power_in_i

Contacts

Research and Markets
Laura Wood, Senior Manager,
press@researchandmarkets.com
U.S. Fax: 646-607-1907
Fax (outside U.S.): +353-1-481-1716

(http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3f8c54/thermal_power_in_i)