Jindal Stainless raises capacity to 1.2 million tons by 2006

Jindal Stainless raises capacity to 1.2 million tons by 2006

Indian steelmaker Jindal Stainless Ltd, demerged from Jindal Group in April 2003, set up plans for an integrated stainless steel project in Jajpur, Orissa which is scheduled to be completed in two phases and bring up the annual capacity to 1.2 million tons by adding 160'000 tons of liquid ferrochrome and 600'000 tons of stainless steel slabs per year to the existing 500'000 tons when completed. Half of the total slab production in the plant will be used for its own facility at Hissar in Haryana, where the other half will be exported. The first phase, which has already been initiated includes a liquid ferrochrome project and a melting shop project and is expected to be completed by 2006. It is reported that Jindal Stainless will finance the project amounting to at least Rs 4.5 billion ($97.6 million) through internal accruals of the company. According to market reports the second phase which will double the capacity of the ongoing project, will commence latest by 2008. In this phase, 1 million tons of hot rolling capacity will be added as well.