History JSW Steel India historic profile Vijayanagar Salem

History of JSW Steel

JSW is a leading Indian producer of steel (carbon and alloy steel products). JSW Steel Ltd is the flagship company of the JSW Group. In 2018, the company produced ~17 mt of liquid steel, and ranked as the 18th largest steelmaker in the world.

The timeline below covers the history of the firm.

1982: Jindal Group sets up steel plant at Vasind near Mumbai.
1982: Acquires Piramal Steel Limited (later renamed JISCO).
1994: Sets up Jindal Vijayanagar Steel Ltd (JVSL).
2004: JSW acquires Salem Steel Works.
2005: JISCO and JVSL merge to form JSW Steel Ltd.
2008: JSW Steel enters rebar JV in Georgia.
2010: Acquires integrated steel plant at Dolvi, Maharashtra.
2013: Ties up with Japan's JFE in electrical steel JV.
2014: Acquires Welspun Maxsteel in deal valued at ~1,000 Crores.
2018: Buys 100% stake in Italy's Aferpi for Euro 55 million.
2018: Signs JV agreement with JFE for Indian auto steel production.
2018: Invests $150m in first tranche for greenfield Texas plant.
2019: NCLT approves JSW's takeover of bankrupt Bhushan Power.
2019: Announces sale of significant stake in Geo Steel.
2020: Emerges as preferred bidder for three iron ore mines in Odisha.
2020: NCLAT grants JSW immunity in acquisition of Bhushan Power.
2020: JSW purchase of Bhushan Power challenged in India's top court.

Notes

1982: Piramal Steel operated a mini mill at Tarapur in Maharashtra. This facility was renmaed Jindal Iron and Steel Company (JISCO) shortly after its acquisition.
1994: The JVSL plant was located at Toranagallu near Karnataka and therefore at the heart of India's high-grade iron ore belt. The Vijayanagar plant would later become the first integrated flat-rolled steel plant to use the Corex technology for hot metal production. The JVSL hot strip mill Vijayanagar was commissioned in 1997.
2004: The JSW Group acquired Salem Steel (located near Tamil Nadu) and took over works management in November 2004. As part of the JSW Group, the plant then underwent a dramatic transformation, both returning to profit and expanding capacity. Over the years, this facility has reoriented from commodity to special steels.
2008: The JV was with UK-based Geo Steel. JSW had 49 per cent of the equity. Financing of the rebar mill involved the EBRD and the main equipment comprised a 30t electric arc furnace and a bar rolling mill. Rebar capacity was planned to be around 175,000 tonnes per year.
2010: JSW acquired its majority ownership stake in the Dolvi Works in 2010. Located on the west coast of India, the Dolvi plant has a jetty with a capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum, which provides the unit with a major logistical advantage with respect to the import of raw materials. Note that over time, the Dolvi plant would become the first facility in India to adopt a combination of Conarc technology for steel making and compact strip production (CSP) for the manufacture of thin-gauge hot rolled coils.
2013: Under the JV agreement, JFE was to provide technology for the production of non grain-oriented electrical steel sheets (CRNGO) at the JSW's Vijayanagar plant in Bellary.
2014: Welspun Maxsteel was established in May 2009 after Welspun Steel Ltd completed its acquisition of Vikram Ispat, the Sponge Iron division Business of Grasim Industries Ltd. That facility was set up in 1989 with a design capacity of 0.75 million tons of Sponge Iron (HBI).
2018: At the time of purchase, Aferpi was a 2 mt / year steelmaker with ~2000 employees that specialised in making long products, especially steel used for rail and railways products. Aferpi was purchased from Algerian firm Cevital in May 2018, at which point Aferpi was Italy's second-largest steel plant. Prior to its ownership by Cevital, Aferpi was owned by Severstal. Severstal bought Piombino-based Aferpi (then known as Lucchini SpA) from Severstal in 2014. Aferpi is an acronym for Acciaierie e Ferriere di Piombino.
2018: JSW and JFE Steel Corporation signed this agreement with JFE providing the technology for the production of automotive steel in India. The JV plan was to set up a 2.3 million tonne a year cold rolling mill complex to manufacture high-grade automotive steel at JSW's Vijayanagar plant. Project cost was estimated at ~Rs 4,500 crore. Note that at the time of this agreement, JFE Steel held a 15 per cent ownership stake in JSW.
2018: In an October announcement JSW said it would spend $150 million (in the phase one) to set up a new steel facility in Texas, USA. This would be part of a $500 million investment commitment made by the company for a greenfield steel pipe and plate plant to be built in Baytown. The new plant would comprise an eco-friendly electric arc furnace, a slab caster and plate mill, with contiguous pipe mill.
2019: An Indian court in September 2019 cleared JSW Steel's takeover plan for debt-ridden Bhushan Power and Steel, bringing to an end a bankruptcy case that had dragged on for two years. (It was the National Company Law Tribunal or NCLT in New Delhi that approved the debt resolution plan of JSW Steel).
2019: A December announcement referred to the sale of a 39% stake in the Georgian reinforcing bar JV, and retention by JSW of a remaining 10% ownership stake.
2020: In February 2020, JSW Steel emerged as the preferred bidder for three iron ore mines in Odisha with estimated reserves of 1092 million tonnes. The three mines were the Nuagaon Iron Ore Mine, the Narayanposhi Iron & Manganese Ore Mine, and the Ganua Iron Ore Mine.
2020: The National Company Law Appelate Tribunal (NCLAT) in February 2020 allowed JSW Steel's bid for Bhushan Power, offering JSW immunity from criminal proceedings relating to offences committed by the target company's previous management.
2020: Bhushan Power & Steel's former chairman Sanjay Singal in February 2020 succeeded in persuading India's top court to challenge the bankruptcy tribunal's verdict allowing the sale of the insolvent company to JSW Steel.

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