Taiwanese steel maker, China Steel Corporation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gujarat government for setting up a electric steel plant at Dahej GIDC in south Gujarat. The company has promised an investment of US $ 178 million (approx. Rs 1,000 crore) for the project, largest investments by any Taiwanese company in India so far.
"We have acquired 50 hectares of land at Dahej GIDC and will start work for the project by June 2012. The commercial production of electric steel is likely to start from 2014 onwards. Most of our production will be supplied to the domestic market, while about 5 per cent will be exported to the Middle East countries," said J D Lin, chairman, China Steel Corporation India Pvt Ltd (CSC India), a subsidiary of China Steel Corporation (CSC).
The Dahej project will be company's first investment in India with an initial capacity of 200,000 tonnes of electric steel per annum. The company may consider expanding its operations after the success of the Dahej project.
According to company officials, electric steel would be used in power equipments industry including compressor, electric motors, generators and transformers. Currently, electric steel is priced at US $ 800 per tonne.
The company has signed the MoU in presence of state chief minister, Narendra Modi, and Ong Wen-Chyi, ambassador, Taiwan R.O.C., besides officers from the company and Gujarat government. The project is likely to generate employment for 200 people locally.
"With CSC India's project at Dahej, total investments of Tiwanese companies in India stands at around US $ 1.2 billion (approx. Rs 6,000 crore). Over the next five years, the investments are likely to grow at a rate of around 10-15 per cent and cross US $ 1.7 billion (approx. Rs 8,600 crore) in India," said Wen-Chyi. The investment has been approved by Investment Commission, Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwan, R.O.C, he added.
According to Wen-Chyi, many Taiwanese companies have set up their manufacturing base in states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the areas of IT and telecom equipments as well as sports shoes manufacturing. "Gujarat has become a prefered venue for Taiwanese industries and we will encourage more companies in Taiwan to make investments here," added Wen-Chyi while speaking to media persons in Gandhinagar on Wednesday.
CSC India will import semi-processed coils as a raw material from different countries and use Dahej port facility for berthing.
Source: Business-Standard
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