Steel Complex Limited (SCL), owned by the government of the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, and Indian public sector steel producer Steel Authority of Limited (SAIL) have announced the signing of a MoU for the establishment of a new joint venture.
The MoU, which was signed in the presence of India's national steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Kerala chief minister V. S. Achuthanandan, stipulates 50:50 shares in the joint venture for the two sides. Currently, the Kerala state government holds a 93.2 percent stake in SCL while the rest is held by private individuals.
In addition, Minister Paswan laid the foundation stone for a rolling mill at SCL with a planned annual production capacity of 50,000 mt of steel.
The rolling mill at SCL, which currently produces 2,200 mt of steel a month, will raise SCL's total capacity to 4,200 mt with an additional investment of $49 million from the new JV.
SCL, which is the only mini steel plant in Kerala, became a subsidiary of the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation in 1979. After it began incurring huge losses it was referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction as a sick unit in 1992.