SJK Steel to undergo Rs 1,200-crore expansion

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government has assured all support to the proposed expansion plans of SJK Steel as per the state’s industrial policy.

SJK plans to scale up its capacity to 1 million tonne from the present 2.7 lakh tonne, at an investment of around Rs 1,200 crore, by the promoters.

Andre Gerdau Johannpeter, chief executive officer of the Brazilian steel company, Gerdau SA, which holds 45 per cent equity on a par with that of Baba N Kalyani group in the company, and representatives of Kalyani Steels on Tuesday met chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy to brief about their company’s plans apart from seeking incentives from the government for the same.

It may be recalled that Kalyani Steels Limited had entered into a joint venture partnership with the Brazilian steel company by offering 45 per cent stake in SJK Steel, which it bought for Rs 30 crore last year, for expanding the capacity of the plant.

Gerdau has a capacity to produce close to 16 million tonne of steel in Brazil and the joint venture with Kalyani Steels is its first Asian investment foray.

Industries department officials said the government had committed to extend incentives that were part of the state industrial policy 2005-10 to the company. SJK Steel is an integrated alloy steel plant spread over an area of 900 acre at Tadipatri in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.