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ePaper created 2012-06-20, 16:28:00 | version 1.23.6
For some time now, India has been regarded as a serious player in the steel industry and the global economy in general. However, things have only really started rolling with the expansion of the country‘s infrastructure.
26 Issue One 2008 Gautam Agarwal is in the real estate deve- lopment business in India. But the mo- ney he came by – first for investing in land, and then for developing real estate – was made through the steel business. He swears by steel, and has no doubt that there is a lot of money to be made from this metal. The Agarwal family did have a mini-steel mill once – which made steel from scrap iron using the electric arc furnace (EAF) route. But power tariffs in India soared, to well over 20 US cents a unit, so only a few companies can still use this manufacturing method. In addition, Indian people – like people in other developing countries – do not throw very much away. This means there is not enough scrap iron on the market and also explains why steel trading became more attractive than steel production for Agarwal‘s family. Those who have survived and flou- rished are large steel plants. India‘s biggest steel producer is the government run Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), with pro- duction of 16 million tonnes a year. Tata Steel is, with domestic production of 5.3 million tonnes, the second biggest steel producer in India, while its global pro- duction quantity of 25 million tonnes now makes it the fifth biggest producer in the world. Then there is Essar Steel that uses iron ore to make sponge iron for further processing. Essar also makes hot-rolled (HR) and cold-rolled (CR) steel. The Jin- dal Group (JSW and JSPL) runs steel mills in Karnataka where the largest reserves of iron ore can be found, and is busy trying to expand. However, the steel trading and logistics business is profitable for Agarwal‘s family India‘s economic growth is fascinating the world. However, it is above all the country‘s steel sector that is stirring after six decades of slumber ... Analysis AWAKENED! The big players are conquering the world