Tata Steel


Tata Steel Limited is an Indian multinational steel company headquartered in Mumbai and is part of the Tata Group. Formerly known as Tata Iron and Steel Company Limited, the company was established on 26 August 1907 in Jamshedpur.
Tata Steel ranked 8th globally in crude steel production in 2024, with an estimated annual capacity of 35 million tonnes and an output of 31.02 million tonnes. With a domestic crude steel production of 21.6 million tonnes, it is one of the largest steel producers in India.
As of 2024, Tata Steel employed approximately 78,300 people worldwide and operated in 26 countries, including key operations in India, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom.

History

Tata Iron and Steel Company was founded by Jamsetji Nusserwanji Tata and formally established by Sir Dorabji Tata on 26 August 1907. TISCO started pig iron production in 1911 and began producing steel in 1912 as a branch of Jamsetji's Tata Group. During the First World War, the company survived economic challenges by supplying steel for the war effort in India.
In 1920, TISCO incorporated the Tinplate Company of India Ltd as a joint venture with then Burmah Shell to manufacture tinplate. TCIL was later renamed Tata Tinplate.
By 1939, it operated the largest steel plant in the British Empire. The company launched a major modernisation and expansion program in 1951. In 1958, the program was upgraded to 2 million metric tonnes per annum. By 1970, the company had around 40,000 employees at Jamshedpur and another 20,000 in neighbouring coal mines.
In 1990, the company expanded and established a subsidiary, Tata Inc., in New York.
In 2005, the company changed its name from TISCO to Tata Steel Ltd.
In 2007, Tata Steel acquired the UK-based steelmaker Corus Group.
In 2016, Tata Steel announced it would sell its UK business, including the Port Talbot Steelworks, due to losses and broader market conditions.
As of November 2021, Tata Steel posted the highest profits among Tata Group companies. In July 2019, the Tata Steel Kalinganagar plant was named to the World Economic Forum Global Lighthouse Network, which "identifies and awards the most advanced operational sites in the world".
In May 2025, Tata Steel inaugurated its new facility in Odisha, increasing annual capacity at Kalinga Nagar from 3 million to 8 million tonnes with an investment of ₹27,000 crore.

Nationalization attempts

There have been two unsuccessful attempts to nationalize Tata Steel, one in 1971 and another in 1979.
In 1971, the Prime Minister of India at the time, Indira Gandhi, tried to nationalize the company but failed.
In 1979, Prime Minister Morarji Desai attempted to nationalize the company, spurred by Minister of Industry George Fernandes and Minister of Steel, Mines, and Coal Biju Patnaik. However, union protests prevented these nationalization efforts.

Labour welfare

implemented a range of labour welfare measures during the early 20th century, including an eight-hour workday, free medical care, school facilities for children of employees, paid time off, the formation of a provident fund and accident compensation, vocational training, maternity benefits, profit-sharing bonuses, and a retirement gratuity.

Facilities

  • Tata Steel, Jamshedpur Steel Plant
  • Tata Steel, Kalinganagar Steel Plant
  • Tata Steel, Meramandali Steel Plant
  • Tata Steel, Gamharia Steel Plant
  • Tata Metallics, Kharagpur Steel Plant
  • Tata Steel, Khopoli Pipe plant
  • Tata HMC Division, Haldia Coke Plant

    Expansions

Acquisitions

NatSteel in 2004: Tata Steel agreed to acquire the steel-making operations of the Singapore-based NatSteel for $486.4 million in cash. NatSteel had ended 2003 with a turnover of $1.4 billion and a profit before tax of $47 million. The steel businesses of NatSteel would be run by the company through a wholly owned subsidiary called NatSteel Asia Private Ltd. The acquisition was completed in February 2005. At the time of acquisition, NatSteel had a capacity of about 2 million tons per annum of finished steel.
Millennium Steel in 2005: Tata Steel acquired a majority stake in the Thailand-based steelmaker Millennium Steel for a total cost of $130 million. It paid US$73 million to Siam Cement for a 40% stake and offered to pay 1.13 baht per share for another 25% of the shares of other shareholders. Millennium Steel has now been renamed Tata Steel Thailand and is headquartered in Bangkok. On 31 March 2013, it held approximately 68% shares in the acquired company.
Corus in 2006: Tata Steel signed a deal with Anglo-Dutch company, Corus, to buy a 100% stake at £4.3 billion at 455 pence per share. On 19 November 2006, the Brazilian steel company Companhia Siderúrgica Nacional launched a counteroffer for Corus at 475 pence per share, valuing it at £4.5 billion. On 11 December 2006, Tata preemptively raised its offer to 500 pence per share, which was, within hours, superseded by CSN's offer of 515 pence per share, valuing the deal at £4.9 billion. The Corus board promptly recommended both the revised offers to its shareholders. On 31 January 2007, Tata Steel won its bid for Corus after offering 608 pence per share, valuing Corus at £6.7 billion.
In 2005, Corus employed around 47,300 people worldwide, including 24,000 in the UK. At the time of the acquisition, Corus was four times larger than Tata Steel in terms of annual steel production. Corus was the world's 9th largest producer of steel, whereas Tata Steel was in the 56th position. The acquisition made Tata Steel the world's 5th largest producer of Steel.
Tayo Rolls in 2008, formerly Tata-Yodogawa Limited, is a metal fabrication and processing company headquartered in Jamshedpur, India. It was founded in 1968 as a joint venture between Tata Steel and the Japan-based Yodogawa Steels. In 2008, Tayo Rolls became a Tata Steel subsidiary. Tata Steel currently owns 55.24% of Tayo Rolls.
Steel Engineering and Vinausteel in 2007: Tata Steel, through its wholly owned Singapore subsidiary, NatSteel Asia Pte Ltd, acquired a controlling stake in both rolling mill companies located in Vietnam. It acquired a 100% stake in Structure Steel Engineering Pte Ltd and a 70% stake in Vinausteel Ltd. The enterprise value for the acquisition was $41 million. By this acquisition, Tata Steel obtained two rolling mills, a 250,000 tons per year bar/wire rod mill operated by SSE Steel Ltd. and a 180,000 tons per year reinforcing bar mill operated by Vinausteel Ltd.
Bhushan Steel in 2018: Tata Steel acquired the company in 2017–18 when insolvency proceedings were initiated against the former company on 26 July 2017 under IBC. Tata Steel emerged as the highest bidder and took over the company through its wholly owned subsidiary, Bamnipal Steel Ltd. The company was renamed as Tata Steel BSL. Later in 2021 Tata Steel amalgamated Bamnipal Steel Ltd. and Tata Steel BSL thereby the latter became a direct subsidiary of Tata Steel.
Usha Martin in 2019: Tata Sponge Iron Limited, a subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited, acquired the steel business of Usha Martin Limited in 2019 for . The acquisition involved UML's 1.0 MnTPA specialty steel plant in Jamshedpur that makes alloy-based long products, a functional iron ore mine, a coal mine under development, and captive power plants.
Nilachala Ispat Nigam Ltd. in 2022: Tata Steel, through its wholly owned subsidiary Tata Steel Long Products, acquired a controlling stake in NINL. It outbid Jindal Steel and JSW Steel to acquire Odisha-based Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. for.
On 25 February 2025, Tata Steel Limited acquired 788.5 crore shares of its Singapore-based subsidiary, T Steel Holdings Pte. Ltd., for $1,238 million, thereby retaining full ownership of the subsidiary.

Joint ventures

In 2006, Tata Steel and Australia's BlueScope Steel launched Tata BlueScope Steel Ltd., a joint venture for the manufacturing of pre-engineered steel products.
In 2014, Tata Steel launched Jamshedpur Continuous Annealing and Processing Company Pvt Ltd., a joint venture with Nippon Steel to produce continuous annealed products intended for the automotive industry. The plant had a capacity of 600,000 tons, and was set up with an investment of. Tata Steel held 51% of the joint venture.

Amalgamation

In 2022, the Tata Group completed the amalgamation of seven metal companies of the group into Tata Steel. The seven metal companies of Tata Group that merged into Tata Steel are Tata Steel Long Products Limited, The Tinplate Company of India Limited, Tata Metallics Limited, TRF Limited, The Indian Steel & Wire Products Limited, Tata Steel Mining Limited and S & T Mining Company Limited.

Sports

Tata Steel is involved in the inception of the Tata Football Academy, TSAF Climbing Academy, Tata Archery Academy, Naval Tata Hockey Academy – Jamshedpur and Odisha Naval Tata Hockey High-Performance Centre, and is also the namesake of the Tata Steel Chess Tournament.

Operations

Tata Steel is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India, and has its marketing headquarters at the Tata Centre in Kolkata, West Bengal. It has a presence in around 50 countries with manufacturing operations in 26 countries including India, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, UAE, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, South Africa, Australia, United Kingdom, The Netherlands, France and Canada.

Issues in Europe

Since Tata Steel's acquisition of Corus in 2007, Tata Steel's Europe unit faced issues from oversupply in the market, labour unions, inexpensive imports from Chinese steel makers, and pressure from regulators to decarbonize, which forced Tata Steel to consolidate its businesses in Europe.
In 2015, Tata Steel was looking to sell its facilities in Port Talbot, Hartlepool, Rotherham, and Stocksbridge, which were put on hold due to Brexit. In April 2016, Tata Steel's Long Products Europe Division located in Scunthorpe, England was sold to Greybull Capital LLP. The unit was renamed as British Steel Limited.
In February 2017, the company decided to sell its specialty division to Liberty House Group.
In September 2017, ThyssenKrupp of Germany and Tata Steel announced plans to combine their European steel-making businesses. The deal will restructure the European assets of ThyssenKrupp and Tata Steel as an equal joint venture. The announcement estimated that the company would become Europe's second-largest steelmaker as a result of the merger, and planned for its future headquarters in Amsterdam. However, in 2019, antitrust regulators of EU refused to accept deals citing reduction in competition. In 2019 Tata Steel decided to sell some of its non-core business units in UK.
In June 2020, the company requested £500 million in UK government support. Later in July media houses reported that the company proposed to transfer 50% of its stake in Port Talbot Steelworks to the UK Government, in return for capital injections amounting to £900 million.
On 11 September 2024, Tata Steel UK announced that 2,500 jobs would be lost at the Port Talbot steelworks, despite a £500 million taxpayer-backed deal from the UK Government.
In November 2020, SSAB of Sweden announced its intention to purchase Tata Steel's unit in IJmuiden, Netherlands. However, in 2021, SSAB backed out, citing technical and cost issues involved with the deal.
In October 2021, Tata Steel Europe officially split its businesses into two independent entities, Tata Steel Netherlands and Tata Steel UK.
In April 2022, Tata Steel announced that it would find alternative sources of coal for its steel production plants in the UK and the Netherlands after European nations stopped doing business with Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.