Tata Steel has said that its specialised grade of galvanised, coated steel for car bodies will roll out within nine months.

"These products will initially target export market of car companies," Tata Steel executive-in-charge (flat products) Hemant Nerurkar said.

The new product is expected to boost Tata Steel’s bottomline as they give an added 50% realisation, compared to that of HRCs.

This will add to realisations from Tata Steel’s product portfolio as prices are currently on the upswing. Bullish trends have resulted in prices of flat steel products rising every month. In addition to the earlier hikes, Tata Steel has said it will increase HR prices yet again, this time by another Rs 2,000 per tonne from July 1. "There is a substantial gap between international and domestic prices at present.

This needs to be corrected," Mr Nerurkar said, adding that Tisco may effect another price hike in August. Reports indicate that while global HR prices rose over Rs 7,200 per tonne, Indian HR prices surged by Rs 3,000 per tonne.

In terms of size, the 3.5m tonne Tata Steel is the second largest in the country behind the state-run Steel Authority of India, and the company produces a fifth of the steel sold in India. The company, which had set up a 1.2m tonne CR plant, produced 700,000 tonnes of cold rolled steel last year.

"This will go up to 1.15m tonnes next year," Mr Nerurkar said. The focus on auto grade steel has seen the company initiate negotiations with Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motors, Fiat, Ford and others.

"We will tap their export market as Indian cars have not yet started using galvanised bodies," Mr Nerurkar explained. Tata Steel supplies 60% of the steel used in Tata Indica. Exports of most car companies have seen a sudden increase in the current financial year, as against practically nothing in the previous year.

Technology for the coated bodies are sourced through a three-way agreement with the world’s largest steel company Arcelor and Japan’s Nippon Steel.