Currently, Shyam Steel has an annual manufacturing capacity of 0.7 million tonne, which is ready to shoot up to 1 million tonne by April 2023. To achieve this objective, the company is currently investing aboutRs 10 billion in its integrated facility in Mejia, Durgapur, as a brownfield investment.Additionally,it has acquired 600 acre for its greenfield factory in West Bengal, which will see an additional investment of Rs 15 billion to ramp up the production further by 0.35 million tonne per year. As he shared with the CW team, Manish Beriwala, Director, Shyam Steel, speaks about his company’s expansion plans, export ambitions and commitment towards R&D and producting quality products. Whats is the strategy behind the Rs 25 billion in greenfield and brownfield projects? After conquering the northern belt, which parts of India do you plan to increase your footprint in? The National Steel Policy, 2017, envisons to ramp up steel productionto reach the target of 300 MT by 2030-31.This is essentially a policy to encourage all the players in the steel industryto increase their production capacity and contribute to the achievement of the national target. Likewise, the process also aims at increasing thepresent level of per capita steel consumption in India from 74.7 to 160 kg by 2030-31. Aswe have been a partner inprogress of the nation since the early 50s, we stand committed to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream to transform India into an economic powerhouse, reduce dependency on import and achieve the goals of Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan. By boosting our production capacity, we are also trying to contribute to the country’s steel requirement across different sectors,which is inline with the Prime Minister’s commitment to accelerate the pace of economic development.For us as a company, more than market penetration, it is about contributing to the national growth to the best of our capacity. Going forward, will you also be exploring the export market for your products?If yes, which countries/regions are under your radar? We will consider exploring the export market in the years ahead because as a nation,India needs to capitalise on the available oppurtunities in theglobal steel market and set a benchmark world overin terms of the quality of steel productsit can offer. Initially, we shall look for the neighbouring countries for accessing their markets and try to gaintheir confidence. However, our marketing strategy will evolve over time considering multiple factors for capturing a share of the export market. As the construction landscape changes,what kind of features are desired in TMT bars utilised for both low rises and high-rises? TMT Rebars are the most modern form of reinforcing bars used in concrete structures. These have replaced the plain rods– twisted and non-twisted–that were in use earlier. Notably, ribs in TMT Rebars provide a good grip between the bar and the concrete.The problem of early distress in concrete structures because of enhanced corrosion of rods due to the presence of residual stresses in twisted bars has largely been overcome through elimination of twisting. The tempered martensite case and ferrite-pearlite core provide a good balance of strength and ductility in TMT Rebars, which are mainly of Fe500D and Fe550Dgrades and are available in diameters ranging from 8mm to 36mm. TMT bars used in low-rise and high-rise buildings differ in their strength requirements that can be achieved by the judicious choice of the grade and diameter of rebars. The tonnage of rebars to be used and their spacing in the concrete is an important consideration in this regard;necessary guidelinesare available. The question as to which kind of rebars are to be used in high or low-rise buildings falls within the exclusive jurisdiction of architect and construction engineers. What is your take on the fluctuation of steel prices as also the quality of steel, which you have made available in the Indian market for construction and infrastructure purposes? There is no denying the fact thatprice fluctuations in the steel market occur quite often.But it happens owing to a number of reasons right from increase in the price of raw materials, high rise in logistic costs, high power tariff to demand-supply mismatchand recession in the infrastructure sector particularly the real estate segment. Add to it is government’s policy shift, non-availability of quality coal, the taxation policies, import-export duties and domestic marketlandscape. As far as quality is concerned, our products are well known for their qualitative excellence in terms ofstrengthand flexibilityacross the country. We are present even in the remotest corners of the country. We may have many competitorsin the market, butwe do hardly have any peers in terms of excellence in product-qualityand level of customers satisfaction. What kind of quality protocols do you have in place to ensure your TMT bars are one of a kind? We are meticulous about quality control and never compromise onthis. At every stage of production, weconduct rigorous quality test and control keeping in mind the customers’ choice andcardinal engineering requirementswith regard to use of steel in various construction projects. We have got state-of-the-art R&D facilities in our integrated steel plants equipped with the most technologically advancedmachineries and tools fortesting product-quality. As a rule,TMT manufacturers have to follow the BIS guidelines prescribed with regard tocomposition, strength ,and ductility in manufacturingTMT rebars. As a firm dedicated to continual innovation we carry out a series of routine test coupled with our own R&D to ensure that the TMT bars being produced are compliant to BIS standards. R&D for us is a non-stop exercise and SSIL is always open to adapt to any new technology for manufacturing TMT bars, however, this is subject to BIS approval as per prescribed norms. Our business model latches on the idea of sustainable growth and it involves upscaling the skill sets of our people. Hence, we are also aligned with a number of well-known research institutions and universities including Jadavpur University and IIT Kharagpur for acquiring the fruits of latest research activities in the steel sector. This ensures we are in the know whenever anything new comes up and do not lag behind in any technological upgradation that may be desired in our production systems and processes. The provision we have for such purposes is quite substantial.