Jamshedpur: Tata Ryerson Ltd (TRL), a 50:50 joint venture between Ryerson-Tull of the US and Tata Steel, steered by its recently-appointed chairman JJ Irani, aims to become the second largest Tata Steel Group company in the next few years, clocking a turnover of Rs 500 crore.

Speaking at the inauguration of a TRL precision blanking facility inside Tata Steel works here on Friday, Dr Irani, who was inducted on the Tata Ryerson board as chairman on December 13 last, said most of the Tata Steel Group companies today have a turnover between Rs 300 and 400 crore.

Dr Irani said, “In the next few years the joint venture will become the second largest company in the Tata Steel Group.” He expected Tata Ryerson to have a turnover of Rs 500 crore within the next three-four years. TRL sees a turnover of Rs 100 crore this year. The precision blanking line with a capacity to handle 6,000 tonnes per month of cold rolled sheets, comes from Red Bud Industries, US. Two more Red Bud lines, including one for narrow sheets, are also to be commissioned shortly, all at an investment of Rs 37 crore.

Bhushen Steel is TRL’s nearest competitor in the country. With the addition of the precision blanking facility, TRL will be able to cater to the auto and appliances sector, the largest segment of the market, which depends mostly on imports. Also, TRL will be able to provide not only precision processed products but also just-in-time supplies to its clients namely Maruti, Telco, Bajaj, Toyota, Ford, Hyundai, Whirlpool and Godrej, among others.

Dr Irani told The Financial Express, “Most of the steel in the US and even in China goes through services.” In India only a very small amount of steel visits service centres, he added. Asked why the precision unit has been put up at Jamshedpur and not at Pune, the TRL chairman said it is not possible to cater to an all-India market from Pune because of the sheer volumes needed to do that. Therefore, the unit was set up next to the steel plant at Jamshedpur, he added.

Dr Irani said TRL is aiming to handle around half-a-million tonnes of steel a year, with Tata Steel being the main supplier in this region. It has two units in Jamshedpur (one for hot rolled coils the other for cold rolled coils) and another unit in Pune.

In future, more units will come up at Faridabad, Chennai and other places, Dr Irani said. The company has already earmarked locations in these places. TRL earned a net profit of Rs 1 crore last year and for this year, Dr Irani sees a greater profit figure. Managing director Sandipan Chakraborty said, TRL has till date made a total investment of Rs 120 crore in all its facilities in the country, both for handling HR and CR steel. Top-end galvanised sheets coming out of Tata Steel’s latest galvanising line are yet to be handled by TRL.

Lines catering to high-end cold rolled galvanised sheets are to come up once the products are accepted by the market, he added.