By IANS,
New Delhi : Tata Steel Monday unveiled a new brand of its hot rolled products called “Tata Astrum” to meet demands in small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
This is the first time that the company has made a foray into branding of hot rolled products in the SME segment.
“With the launch of Tata Astrum, Tata Steel is offering convenience to its customers through consistent availability of ready-to-use quality hot rolled products,” T. V. Narendran, vice president, safety and flat products, Tata Steel, said at a press conference here.
Narendran said the company target to sell over one million tonnes of the new brand product in 2013-14 and increase it to two million tonnes in the next year.
In 2013-14, Tata Steel targets nearly Rs.4,000 crore revenue from this segment.
Tata Astrum hot rolled coils and sheets will be produced from two of Tata Steel’s mills at Jamshedpur and will be available in the 1.6 mm to 16 mm thickness range.
Customers will be served through Tata Steel’s authorised distributors. A total of 42 such distributors have been appointed across the country, Narendran said.
Each distributor will have a tie-up with service centres that will be certified by Tata Steel for quality products. The material will be supplied to customers in processed form out of the service centres, he said.
The new product range will be used in automotive, earth moving equipment, railways, fabrication, construction and industrial machinery segments.
The size of the domestic market for hot rolled products in the SME segment is pegged at 6 million tonnes per annum. Tata Astrum hopes to garner a market share of 17-18 per cent in this segment in 2013-014.
This is expected to generate revenue of approximately Rs.4,000 crore for the company.