Indian steelmaker JSW Steel Ltd (JSW) has announced its intention to invest Rupees 60 billion (approx. $1.39 billion) towards expansion purposes during the current fiscal year.
According to JSW's joint managing director and CEO, Y. Siva Sagar Rao, a total of Rupees 10 billion (approx. $232 million) will be spent on augmenting the company's raw material supplies by acquiring mines in India, Chile, Mozambique and Indonesia among others.
The remaining investments will be directed towards increasing the annual capacity of JSW's plants in Vijayanagar, Karnataka and Salem, Tamil Nadu from 4.8 million mt of steel to eight million mt by the middle of 2008 and to 32 million mt by 2020. "By 2020, we will also have additional production of 10 million mt each at our upcoming greenfield plants in West Bengal and Jharkhand," Rao said.
Futhermore, the new plants in Jharkhand and West Bengal will see investments of Rupees 400 billion (approx. $9.27 billion) each. "In West Bengal, the plant is to begin production with six million mt in the next 30 months," Rao added.
In order to pump up steel consumption in India, JSW will also expand its branded retail format Shoppe, to set up 50 retail stores across India during the year. The stores will be set up on a franchise model and will be worth Rupees 1 million to Rupees 1.4 million each (approx. $23,174 to $32,445 respectively).