TSL, NSC ink automotive cold-rolled flat products venture

Tata Steel Ltd (TSL) and Nippon Steel Corp. (NSC) have formed a joint venture for the production and sales of automotive cold-rolled flat products at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, India to address the localisation needs of Indian automotive customers for high-grade cold-rolled steel sheet and contribute to further expansion of the Indian automobile industry. TSL will hold 51% and NSC will hold 49% of equity capital of the joint venture company. The above joint venture aims to capture the growing demand for high-grade automotive cold-rolled flat products in India by setting up a Continuous Annealing and Processing Line (CAPL) with a capacity of 600,000 tonnes. NSC will transfer its technology for producing high-grade cold-rolled steel sheet for automotive application, including skin panels and high tensile steels. The companies will target conclusion of the joint venture agreement by June 2010 and start-up of operations before March 2013. In addition to this, both companies will continuously discuss further collaboration in other fields, such as automotive CGL or up-stream processes.Off White X Max 90