Mitsui & Co., one of Japan's leading trading companies, has signed a joint venture agreement with Indian-based Ruchi Group in order to increase its current equity stake of 10 percent in Indian Steel Corp. Ltd (ISC) to 20 percent to help fund the latter's expansion.
The Ruchi Group, which owns ISC, is planning to expand ISC's production capacity by more than 400,000 mt of cold rolled steel and galvanized/coated steel products. The current annual capacity at ISC is 200,000 mt for cold rolled steel and 120,000 mt for galvanized products.
The expansion is scheduled to go into full operation by 2009 and is expected to cost about Rupees 9.5 billion ($239 million); however, the financial value of the JV agreement has not been disclosed.
Commenting on the project, ISC chairman Mr. Kailash Chandra Shahra said, "We are delighted to have Mitsui as an equity partner in our new project. This investment reflects Mitsui's confidence in Ruchi as well as in the Indian steel sector."