SAIL approves joint venture with ArcelorMittal for automotive steel

Domestic steel giant SAIL today said its board has approved the proposal to enter into a joint venture with the world’s largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal for manufacturing high-end automotive steel. “The Board of SAIL in its meeting held on December 12, 2017, has approved the proposal for signing of a legally non- binding term sheet with ArcelorMittal S.A for entering into a JV for automotive Steel Business,” Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) said. However, definitive agreements in this regard will be finalised in due course subject to financial viability, the PSU said in a filing to the BSE. SAIL and ArcelorMittal had entered into an MoU in May 2015 to explore the possibility of setting up an auto-grade steel manufacturing facility under a joint venture in India. Steel Minister Chaudhary Birender Singh last week had said that the JV was likely soon and the proposed Rs 15,000- crore auto-grade steel plant project with a capacity of 1.5 million tonne per annum could be scaled up to 2.5 MT. Singh had said that ArcelorMittal has the technology and they are keen to have a JV with SAIL. The minister has said that in the next 3-4 years, India would be a hub for car manufacturing and that it is estimated that the country would manufacture about 28 per cent of the total cars manufactured in the world.