Tata Steel receives approval for Rs 60 bn Iran plant

Tata Steel (Q, N,C,F)* has received an approval from the Iranian government to set up a three million tons steel project with an investment of over Rs 60 billion, reports Business Standard.  
¼br /> Iran has allotted 500 hectares in the Persian Gulf special economic zone (PGSEZ) at Bandar Abbas for the gas-based steel plant. ¼br /> ¼br /> Tata Steel said the Iranian Mines & Mining Industries Development & Renovation Organisation (IMIDRO) had issued permission for supplying raw material for production.
¼br /> The three-million-tons plant could be scaled up to five million tons at a later stage. Once commissioned, it will scale up the combined capacity of Tata Steel-Corus to 28.5 million tons. ¼br /> ¼br /> The plant would be commissioned within 36 months from date of start of work, which has not yet being announced.
¼br /> The proposed greenfield project in Iran is a part of Tata Steel`s strategy to have 100 million tons capacity by 2015. The company has lined up greenfield projects in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Bangladesh as well. ¼br /> ¼br /> The Iran plant would be an export-oriented unit and fully owned subsidiary of Tata Steel. ¼br /> ¼br /> Tata Steel had chalked out a long-term strategy of deintegrated production, where primary steel making would be in countries rich in iron ore, coal, or gas and finishing facilities would be in growing markets. Corus, NatSteel, Millennium Steel and the various greenfield projects are part of this strategy.  

Shares of the company closed at Rs 457.75. Total volume of shares traded at the BSE was 4,451,227.