ESSAR Steel Ltd inaugurated its 1.2-million-tonne cold rolling mill (CRM) at its Hazira steel complex on Friday, making itself a fully integrated steel producer.

The Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, inaugurated the new facility. Mr Mangubhai Patel, Gujarat Minister for Forest; Mr Narottambhai Patel, Minister for Water Resources; Mr Shashi Ruia, Chairman of the company; and Mr Ravi Ruia, Vice-Chairman, were also present on the occasion.

The CRM, which was set up at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore, will now enable the company to offer downstream products with considerable value enhancement.

The new manufacturing facility consists of two pickling lines of capacity 1.4 mt, two cold rolling mills and two galvanizing lines.

Talking to presspersons on the sidelines of the inauguration, Mr Prashant Ruia, Managing Director, said this investment in India's first integrated Cold Rolling complex on the west coast would give Essar significant upstream and downstream advantages.

He said the benefits of cold rolling included increased strength-to-weight ration, ideal hardness, improved flatness and close dimensional tolerances. "Cold rolling thickness can be much lower and cleaner than the hot rolled process. Besides, surface brightness and aesthetic value of the CR products are far superior," he pointed.

Mr Ruia said the company was in the process of expanding the capacity of its Hazira steel plant from the existing three mt to 4.6 mt at a cost of Rs 2,000 crore, which was expected to be wrapped up by next year.

The Hazira complex also has a captive port that handles six mt of cargo per annum, apart from a dedicated power plant and captive oxygen plant.

Essar Steel has a four-mt pellet complex at Visakhapatnam.

The company will shortly be commissioning a 267-km long slurry pipeline that will move iron ore from the Bailadila mines in Chhattisgarh to the Vizag pellet complex in the form of ore slurry.

In response to a question, he said the company was examining proposals to set up a greenfield steel plant either in Orissa, Chhattisgarh or Jharkhand.

According to Mr Ruia, India needed more steel producing capacity.

"India produces about 35 mt of steel per annum at present, but the domestic demand is estimated to increase to 60 mt by the end of the decade. Ten years from now, the demand level will be at 100 to 110 mt per annum," he pointed out