JSW Steel has set an ambitious target to reach 50 million tonne (mt) steel-making capacity by 2030, scaling up from 27mt and aligning itself with the projected growth of the Indian economy.

The company, promoted by billionaire Sajjan Jindal, hopes to attain the feat by building plants and also expanding at existing sites. “The Indian economy is poised to double by the end of this decade. Indian steel making capacity is projected to reach 300mt, (doubling in size). If the country has to grow, JSW has to step up,” he said at the Indian Chamber of Commerce in Calcutta on Wednesday.

Speaking later at the sidelines, Jindal said his target is to reach 50mt capacity by 2030 but that did not include inorganic opportunities. While JSW aggressively acquired assets from bankruptcy courts in the last four years, there are not enough left now. “The government may divest some of the steel units. We may look at them.”

Export levy

Jindal pitched for withdrawing the export duty on steel.

“Right now exports have slowed down because of the duty. The government is very worried about inflation and they want steel prices to cool down. Now that prices have started cooling they will probably open up exports again,” he said, adding the Union steel ministry has recommended that duty should be removed.

Asked if the prices can come down further, Jindal argued that prices have reached bottom.

“Globally also it has come to a bottom level where Chinese steel mills are losing money heavily and they can’t afford any further drop in steel prices. So I don’t think the steel industry can afford to drop steel prices anymore.”

Exports account for 25 per cent of JSW’s sales. The global economy does not offer much opportunity now, he said.

Bengal

Jindal, who flew in from a global investors meet in Karnataka where he announced plans to invest Rs 1 lakh crore in the next five years in steel, renewable energy, cement, paint and port, did not have much to offer to Bengal.

“We have a cement plant here and we want to do some more but not at the same scale that we are doing in some other parts of the country.”

He said he wanted to build an integrated steel plant here but could not do so as he did not get mines.

“The project is now happening in Odisha where we have got iron ore mines.” JSW is one of the largest leaseholder of industrial land in the state, having possession over 3,500 acre land at Salboni in East Midnapur where it has built a cement plant.