Tata Steel is still pursuing its request for the financial package with the UK government, the company’s chief executive officer T.V. Narendran said.

Narendran, who is also the managing director of Tata Steel, made the remarks in reply to a question on its stance on exiting the UK business.

“Tata Steel is still pursuing it (request) with the government there (UK),” he told PTI on the sidelines of an event in the national capital.

There has been no conclusion to the request made for a financial package, he said.

India-headquartered Tata Steel owns the UK’s largest steelworks at Port Talbot in South Wales and employs around 8,000 people across all its operations in the country.

The company had sought £1.5 billion from the UK government to execute its decarbonisation plans.

However, the British government earlier this year made a counter offer which was much lower to the company’s expectations.

When the UK government tabled its offer earlier this year, Narendran had said Tata Steel would now have to re-work on its decarbonisation plans for the UK business. It will rethink the facilities that can be set up and those which can’t be taken forward, he said.

Central to the government offer of support are the companies’ blast furnaces. These use vast quantities of coking coal, a treated form of coal, to smelt iron from ore-bearing rock. As a result, they produce huge amounts of carbon dioxide, which drives global warming.

Traditional steel production, with its reliance on coal to produce iron, is seen as incompatible with the UK’s legally binding climate action commitment to massively reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the coming decades.

When asked about the company’s stance on exiting the UK business, which has been affecting the company’s balance sheets, Narendran said Tata Steel can not see its future in the UK without the support of the government there.