New Delhi: India's largest steelmaker Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Japan's Kobe Steel have signed an agreement to set up half a million tonne iron nugget plant using the Japanese steelmaker's patented technology.
A ministry delegation led by Beni Prasad Verma, the minister of steel, senior officials of the ministry and SAIL are currently in Tokyo to sign the agreement. The plant will come up on SAIL's alloy steels plant in Durgapur, West Bengal.
Steel Authority of India Limited and Kobe Steel will share production equally from the plant for captive use. "The ITmK3 technology will also utilise dump iron ore fines, disposal of which is an environmental issue," said Verma.
Kobe is one of the largest suppliers of alloy steels to Japanese automobile companies.
Besides ITmK3, Kobe has also developed new technologies such as Midrex, which uses gaseous fuel.
While SAIL will contribute land, iron ore and other engineering services for the project, Kobe Steel will provide the technology for setting up the plant and its operation.
The government PSU has been exploring similar joint ventures for such patented technologies to ease costs pressures from coking coal which India has to import.
SAIL is yet to further its MoU with Posco for a Finex plant. Discussions are stuck on shareholding with the South Korean company reluctant to allow Steel Authority of India Limited majority stake.
Posco has claimed it cannot allow anyone else's control in a joint venture centred around its proprietary technology developed with government funding.
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