Essar Steel : Cognitive Heritage of Excellence
Q. Please brief us about company’s Indian & global reach ?
Essar Steel is an integrated steel producer with annual steel production capacity of 10 million tonnes. The company has invested in value added downstream facilities to service a variety of steel requirements of our customers. Therefore the company offers a wide product basket of flat products that includes hot rolled, cold rolled, galvanized, colour coated, extra wide heavy plates and welded pipes which conform to international quality standards like ASTM, EN, JIS as well as BIS. Its value-added products account for over 60% of sales , thus giving an edge in international markets, which is evident from the fact that exports account for 20% of our total sales.
Q. Please also highlight the latest initiatives in your industry domain?
The primary focus of Essar Steel in recent times is on value-added steel which constitutes over 60% of its production. It caters to wide section of industry. Recently it has developed products for auto, naval and other Defence applications, heavy engineering, equipment manufacturing, commercial vehicles. All these are products developed in-house and have high export potential. The new product development initiative of the company is supporting the “Make in India” campaign of the Government of India by substituting imports.
Q. What are the market opportunities for your company’s products in India?
Essar Steel produces over 300 grades of steel for every conceivable application and hence the opportunities are very high. It caters to a wide section of industries including auto & auto components, white goods, yellow goods, defence, general engineering, construction, hydrocarbon, power projects etc.
Steel processing and distribution is an area where we see a lot of potential. As Indian market continues to mature, the requirement grows for ready-to-use products and customized steel. Essar Steel has the largest steel processing capacity of five million tonnes in India and they are strategically located in the auto clusters to meet the ““just in time” delivery requirements of our customers. These facilities also support our pioneering steel retail venture – Essar Hypermart. We have identified steel retailing as another growth area for us as SMEs have become a major customer segment for steel industry. This segment contributes 30% of Essar Steel revenues.
Q. What is future prospect for your industry?
Steel continues to be a preferred material for many an application. Hence the demand for steel will continue to grow. Further, the per capita consumption of steel at 60 kg is among lowest in the world against the world average of 200 kg. Hence the potential for growth of steel industry in India is very high. With the Government’s push to increase spending on infrastructure and “Make in India”, Indian steel demand is set to grow manifold in the coming years
Q. Is there any plans for expansion & new investment in terms of product development or new technology adoption to cater the demand of the industry?
Essar Steel strongly believes that innovation is key to sustainability and remain ahead in the marketplace. With this belief, the company has invested in creating world class facilities. The focus of the Company now is on developing new products and be a trend setter in the steel industry. In order to achieve this, it has set up an R & D Centre. This Centre works on three areas of development viz. new product development, process improvement and rawmaterials. It works closely with customers to develop products to meet their specific requirement. Hence our expansion will mostly be in widening the product range rather through capital expenditure. Today the company derives over 25% of its revenue from products developed in-house. Essar Steel has become a preferred supplier to many of its customers in auto and other industries.
Q. What is the top line product range & Is there any plans to launch new products?
Launching new products is an ongoing process at Essar Steel. In the last year alone, we have launched 17 new products for the sectors of construction, hydrocarbon, auto and Defence.
Q. What is your vision for your company?
Our vision is to become a best quality steel supplier at a competitive cost and we would like to maintain our status as a preferred steel supplier to our customers.
