JSW Steel surpasses Tata to become largest steel maker

NEW DELHI: Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Steel on Wednesday surpassed Tata Steel to become the country's largest private sector steel producer, with a total installed capacity of 7.8 million tonnes.

With the commissioning of a new three-million tonne blast furnace at its Vijaynagar plant, JSW Steel's total domestic production capacity would be a million tonne more than that of Tata Steel's (6.8 MT) Jamshedpur facility.

"With the commissioning of the largest blast furnace, JSW Steel has become the leading steel producer. In this economic slowdown, the commissioning of expansion project is a giant step towards making India proud," JSW Steel Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal said in a statement.

The commencement of commercial production from the expanded production line was delayed for about six months on account of slump in steel demand.

However, the company claimed that it has taken the "shortest duration" to commission a plant of this nature.

"This project is commissioned in 31 months. It is one of the shortest durations from the start to the commissioning for the project of this size," the statement added.

The steel major has already commissioned a sinter plant and two blocks of coke-oven batteries as part of the company's Rs 5,300-crore expansion project at Vijaynagar.