Jindal Stainless (JSL) has put its Rs.2,887 crore ($600 million) overseas projects on hold, while delaying the Rs.10,000 crore expansion plan in India following a slump in demand for the alloy , amid the global economic slowdown.

JSL will go slow on the overseas projects and delay commencement of the proposed integrated plant in Orissa by a year to 2011.

The company had earlier decided to set up a 2.6 lakh tpa ferro-nickel plant in Indonesia and a 60,000 tpa ferro- chrome unit in Vietnam. It is also in the process of setting up a 1.6 million tpa integrated stainless steel plant in Orissa.

The company has already invested about Rs.3,000 crore for setting up a 4.5 lakh tpa coke oven, 2.5 lakh tpa ferro-manganese and ferro-chrome units besides a 250-MW power plant as part of the phase I of the proposed project in Orissa. It plans to infuse about Rs.6,000 crore to reach a production capacity of 8 lakh tpa and then 1 .6 million tpa in the third and last phase with an additional investment of around Rs.1,000 crore.

With stainless steel demand declining world over and leading to piling up of inventories, JSL has approached the government for initiating anti-dumping duty on shipments of the alloy from countries like China. The Commerce Ministry on the company's plea has initiated a probe into alleged dumping of stainless steel items and has sought the industry's response to it within 40 days, which is set to expire this month.

Also See:

JSL lines up Rs.11,000 cr for expansion (18-Sep-08)