The country’s third largest steel producer, JSW Steel, expects to commission the first unit of the new Vijaynagar plant in Karnataka by next month.

Mr Vinod Nowal director and CEO of JSW Steel told reporters that “We expect to start the first unit of our new plant at Vijaynagar in Karnataka in September this year.”

The EGM is to get the shareholders nod for inducting the Japanese steel major JFE Steel as partner with a tad less than 15% stake.

Mr Nowal said that “We will start full operations of the 3.2 million tonne per annum plant by next February. After completion, our overall annual capacity is expected to top 10 million tonne.”

To a query on the ban on Vedanta project in Orissa and its impact on the overall industry sentiment in general and those of the steel industry in particular, Mr Nowal said that “I cannot comment on the government decision now.’’

On hike in steel prices, Mr Jayant Acharya commercial and marketing director of JSW Steel said that “We are not increasing our prices now. Demand situation is reasonable but we are not increasing our prices now.”

He added that since the European banks cleared their stress test end-July, there has been an overall improvement on the demand front globally.

(Sourced from PTI)