Tata Steel’s strategic priorities will be to focus on India, Chandrasekharan

The Dollar Business Bureau 

N Chandrasekharan, the Chairman of Tata Steel in his address to the shareholders in the company’s Annual Report for 2016-17 said, Tata Steel’s strategic priorities going forward will be to focus on India while pursuing  pension restructuring programme in the UK, which is likely to conclude soon. 

Speaking about the steel demand in India which is likely to witness growth soon in the near future, Chandrasekharan said, "While the steel sector in India is financially stressed currently, the government of India has outlined its intent for ensuring long-term viability of the sector through the recently announced National Steel Policy 2017.” 

Chandrasekharan who had taken over as Chairman of the company in February after the departure of Cyrus Mistry said, the company, Tata Steel had a consolidated profit after tax before exceptional items of Rs 4020 crore in 2016-17, compared to a loss of Rs 1948 crore in the previous year. 

The consolidated profit after tax was on the back of improved realisations across geographies and the capacity ramping up in Kalinganagar and the restructuring of initiatives in Europe, he added. 

Additionally the UK government is seriously considering plugging the loopholes in its pension laws to help the Indian steel company save its jobs at Port Talbot. 

Tata Steel has been seeking ways to reduce its 15 billion pound pension burden for its British Steel business at Port Talbot and keep the manufacturing unit open and afloat. It should be recalled here that the company was on the verge of being sold  to due to its deteriorating financial performance. It had also inked a pact with the Liberty House Group to sell its Specialty Steel business for Rs 840 crore. 

The global steel industry is witnessing challenging times though the industry has seen better realisations in 2016-17 due to disciplined supply-side response, he added in the report.