Essar to more than treble retail centres
Leading Indian steel producer Essar Steel is planning to more than treble the number of its retail centres from 90 to 300 in India as well as take the concept to other countries in Asia.
By PTI |
LONDON: Leading Indian steel producer Essar Steel is planning to more than treble the number of its retail centres from 90 to 300 in India as well as take the concept to other countries in Asia.
"We want to make it as easy as possible for small businesses in India-which are extremely active as the economy expands-to buy their steel in the amounts they want rather than going to a conventional steel stockholder used for selling steel in larger quantities," The Financial Times quoted Essar Group Director Prashant Ruia as saying.
Essar currently has 90 small retail centres for steel in India and wants to expand this to 300 in the next two years, it said.
"This year the network of centres is in line to provide revenues of 700 million dollars to 800 million dollars with most of the steel coming from Essar Steel's own plants," it said and quoted Ruia as saying that revenues from this part of the business could rise to 2 billion dollars a year by about 2010.
Essar was also exploring to set up similar centres in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other parts of Southeast Asia.
"We like the idea of selling to people who come for their steel in a small truck. The centres are part of our plan to be involved in the steel business all the way from mining iron or to selling to the final customer," Ruia was quoted as saying.
In its production operations, which also involve mining iron ore, the company wants to increase the amount of steel it makes from an expected 4.5 MT this year to about five times this amount in five years time including material from the new operations in North America, the daily added.
"We want to make it as easy as possible for small businesses in India-which are extremely active as the economy expands-to buy their steel in the amounts they want rather than going to a conventional steel stockholder used for selling steel in larger quantities," The Financial Times quoted Essar Group Director Prashant Ruia as saying.
Essar currently has 90 small retail centres for steel in India and wants to expand this to 300 in the next two years, it said.
"This year the network of centres is in line to provide revenues of 700 million dollars to 800 million dollars with most of the steel coming from Essar Steel's own plants," it said and quoted Ruia as saying that revenues from this part of the business could rise to 2 billion dollars a year by about 2010.
Essar was also exploring to set up similar centres in Pakistan, Sri Lanka and other parts of Southeast Asia.
"We like the idea of selling to people who come for their steel in a small truck. The centres are part of our plan to be involved in the steel business all the way from mining iron or to selling to the final customer," Ruia was quoted as saying.
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In its production operations, which also involve mining iron ore, the company wants to increase the amount of steel it makes from an expected 4.5 MT this year to about five times this amount in five years time including material from the new operations in North America, the daily added.
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