Tata Steel is planning to sign a joint venture with Australian firm Bluescope within the next few months to offer solutions in buildings and constructions, designs, and also tell retail customers how to use more steel.‘‘The joint venture will take place once the feasibility study is ready,’’ Tata Steel Managing Director B Muthuraman said on the sidelines of a corporate social responsibility conclave held here today. The new JV will be part of company’s strategy to offer more branded products for retail consumers.The company is also planning to hike its prices by April. ‘‘We have not raised our prices since July 23 last year. The whole year we have actually maintained our prices between $100-$200 per tonne less than international prices. We will now go for a price correction, but it won’t be as high as the market,” he said. ‘‘We want to maintain consistency of steel prices as we have a long-term relationships with our customers. Around 70 per cent of the customers of the company are long-term clients,” he said.On its Bangladesh plant, Muthuraman said: ‘‘The feasibility study will be ready by April-end after which we will take a decision. The Bangladesh government is very keen on this project and we will be investing around Rs 3,000 crore in the exercise.” Finally, on its Rs 15,000 crore investment in Orissa, Muthuraman said the plant to be completed in two phases will have a capacity of six million tonnes.(This writer is in Jamshedpur at the invitation of Tata Steel)
