Vardhman Special Steels has secured environmental clearance (EC) for a proposed capacity expansion of its Ludhiana steel plant, up to 2,80,000 tons per year of rolled production.

The Punjab-based special steels producer said that it had applied for the approval in 2019.

According to Vardhman Special Steels, it has all the mechanisms needed for properly addressing the concerns pertaining to the environment.

The special steels producer said that it will first ramp up the existing rolling capacity of 200,000 tons per annum to 250,000 tons per annum. This will also help the steel company to fill up the improved capacities with the requirements of its partner – Aichi Steel Corp.

Sachit Jain – Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Vardhman Special Steels said: “Now we are in a position to utilize the funds infused by Aichi in the most productive way so that we can fulfil the demand for new and high-grade automotive steel. Also, as stated on public platform, this capacity enhancement would enable us to up our EBITDA target range to Rs. 7,000 to Rs. 9,000 per ton. And I am happy to share that our talks with OEMs regarding price increase is going well as per our expectations.

“As regards Aichi, we have sent out our first samples to our customers for Aichi’s operations in Thailand and Aichi’s operations in Philippines and to Head Office in Japan. The EC approval is going to facilitate the sampling process and give us greater confidence to reach our strategic goals well in time.”

  Aichi Steel Corp, India, Punjab, Sachit Jain, Vardhman Special Steels