Construction completed on new plant in India for cold rolled steel plate plant for luxury cars

 From: POSCO  Date: Feb. 02, 2015

- Consistent system of production, sales and distribution built with localized solution marketing base. 


POSCO completed a plant for cold rolled steel with an annual capacity of 1.8 million tons in the Vile Bhagad industrial complex in India`s Maharashtra State on January 22nd. 

POSCO plans to use the new cold rolled steel plant to strengthen its position as No.1 global automotive steel maker in India with a huge domestic market with a population of 1.2 billion by producing automotive materials for luxury cars. 

In addition, the cold rolled steel plant, which was completed with investment of 709 million dollars, will now provide a stable supply of cold rolled materials to Continuous Galvanizing Line (CGL, 450,000 tons annually) and Annealing and Coating Line (ACL, 300,000 tons annually), which are currently in operation. 

POSCO has localized production, sales and distribution to help capture the benefits of solution marketing. It is expected that POSCO will secure its competitiveness in the local market by supplying the world`s leading automobile companies, such as General Motors and Volkswagen, as well as the top automobile companies in India, including Tata, Mahindra and Mahindra and Bajaj. Furthermore, it can contribute to achieving the `Made in India` policy strongly pursued by the Indian government in the manufacturing sector. 

The completion ceremony for POSCO`s Maharashtra cold rolled steel plant was attended and celebrated by 250 participants, including the president of POSCO, Kwon Oh joon, as well as several Indian government officials, including the Minister of Steel at the central government in India, Narendra Tomar, Maharashtra Industries Minister, Subhash Desai, and Minister of Labor, Prakash Mehta, as well as major global automaker clients such as Toyota, Volkswagen, Nissan and Tata.

In his celebratory remarks, president Kwon said, ``We are a key part of enabling India to take the next step as a key base of the world`s automobile industry through the successful operation of POSCO`s Maharashtra cold rolled steel plant. We pledge to contribute further to developing the national economy and local communities. We will support clients` business more actively by taking one step forward, rather than just playing the role of business operator that supplies steel only. We will conduct solution marketing activities to support the quality products and application technologies concurrently.`` In particular, the speech by president Kwon was very well-received by local personnel and media, who particularly praised it for being in English. 

On January 20th , prior to the completion ceremony, Kwon, the president of POSCO, had a meeting with several government officials, including Prime Minister Modi and Minister of Steel Tomar. The ceremony was also a chance for POSCO to explain its role in India and to ask the Indian government for its commitment to help stabilize POSCO`s Maharashtra plant. Prime Minister Modi said, ``The Indian government will do its best to promote cooperation with POSCO.`` The government hopes that, with POSCO`s help, India can establish a comprehensive document promoting policies for manufacturing. 

In addition, president Kwon discussed possible cooperative measures for steel with the main steel companies of India such as JSW Steel, the state-operated steel company SAIL and Uttam, etc. 

Park Ye na mela@posco.com 


- POSCO completes a plant for cold rolled steel with an annual capacity of 1.8 million tons in the Vile Bhagad industrial complex in India`s Maharashtra State on January 22nd. At the switching ceremony during the completion ceremony, from the left, the Consul General in Mumbai, Jang Seok Gu, the President of the Export-Import Bank of Korea, Lee Duk Hoon, the Korean Ambassador to India, Lee Jun Gyu, the President Kwon Oh Joon, the Minister of Steel by the central government in India, Narendra Tomar, Maharashtra Industries Minister, Subhash Desai and Minister of Labor, Prakash Mehta.