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 2022, the company produced over 23 million tonnes of liquid steel, and ranked as the 15th 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.
2020: Agrees to buy remaining 26.45% stake of JSW Vallabh Tinplate.
2020: Purchases remaining 31% stake in Italy's GSI Lucchini.
2021: Completes purchase of Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd.
2021: JSW Steel Italy acquires 31% stake in GSI Lucchini.
2021: Sets CO2 target of 1.95 tons per ton by Fiscal 2030.
2022: Puts Piombino long product business in Italy up for sale.
2022: Announces plan to merge JISPL and CSSL subsidiaries.
2022: Gets approval to construct greenfield steel plant in Andhra Pradesh.
2023: Ponders new investment in an electric vehicle production plant in India.
2023: Becomes a member of ResponsibleSteel.
2023: JSW is approved as the preferred buyer of three coal mines in India.
2023: JSW wins auction for iron ore block in Goa.
2023: Sells coal business of US-based subsidiary Caretta Minerals.
2023: Wins mining license for nineteenth iron ore mine.

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.
2020: Purchase of 26.45% stake of JSW Vallabh Tinplate was for total sum of Rs 35 crore. JSW VTPL manufactures tinplate and has a 100,000 MT per annum tinplate production facility in Beopror Village, Rajpura, Patiala District in the State of Punjab in India.
JSW's acquisition of the remaining 30.73 per cent stake in GSI Lucchini SpA of Italy was for a consideration of one million euros (approximately Rs 9 crore).
2021: Acquisition of Bhushan Power & Steel involved a payment of Rs 19350 crore to the financial creditors of BPSL. The purchase was "the largest acquisition in the history of JSW Steel" said Chairman Sajjan Jindal in a letter to employees sent soon after the deal was officially announced.
2021: The Italian subsidiary of JSW Steel completed the acquisition of a remaining 30.73% stake in GSI Lucchini S.p.A for a cash consideration of Euro 1 million in April 2021. The steel manufacturing unit of GSI is located at the port city of Piombino in Tuscany, providing easy access to export markets.
2022: According to JSW Steel Italy, ongoing discussions with state-owned agency Invitalia to buy a 49% stake in Piombino appeared to make little progress.
2022: The purpose of the proposed merger of the two subsidiaries, JSW Ispat Special Products Limited (JISPL) and Creixent Special Steels Limited (CSSL), is to achieve better synergies. JISPL - formerly known as Monnet Ispat & Energy Limited (MIEL) - was acquired by JSW Steel in 2018 through bankruptcy resolution proceedings. CSSL is the holding company of JISPL.
2022: New greenfield JSW mill in Andhra Pradesh will be located in the Kadapa district. The new plant will be built in two phases, moving first to 3 million tonnes of capacity and then to 6 mt / year. JSW Steel will also construct all the requisite infrastructure.
2023: ResponsibleSteel is a global multi-stakeholder non-profit standard and certification initiative responsible for low-carbon steel making.
2023: In March 2023, the Jharkhand state authorities approved JSW's bid for the Sitanala and Parbatpur coking coal blocks; and the Chhattisgarh authorities gave a go-ahead for the firm's bid for the coal mines at Banai and Bhalumuda.
2023:JSW Steel Ltd was the top bidder for the Cudnem-Cormolem iron ore block in Goa. JSW outbid the former leaseholder Fomento Resources at auction.
2023: Sale of the US coal business was to West Virginia Properties for a onsideration of US $24 million. The reason for the sale was the expiry of the lease for the coal mining operation.
2023: In October 2023 JSW Steel won a mining licenses for another iron ore mine in Karnataka. This was for the Jaisinghpura North block which has reserves of 17.7 million tonnes of iron ore with an iron content of 40.6-66.6%.

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