Earlier this year, in a Rs 4,051-crore deal, JSW Steel and JFE had completed the acquisition of Thyssenkrupp Electrical Steel India. The acquisition provided the company with access to cutting-edge technology thereby aligning with its strategy of enhancing its value-added product portfolio, said JSW Steel.

Considering the increasing domestic demand for CRGO, the board of the company has approved expansion of the above facility from 50,000 tonnes to 2.5 lakh tonnes in a phased manner ending FY28 at an estimated cost of Rs 4,300 crore.

JSW-JFE Electrical Steel had already planned to set up a 62,000 tonnes of CRGO steel at Vijayanagar with an investment of Rs 5,557 crore and is scheduled for commissioning by FY28. This capacity is being enhanced to 1 lakh tonnes now with an additional investment of Rs 1,545 crore.

“This expansion reinforces our commitment to building self-reliance in the domestic specialty steel sector, while also addressing the rapidly growing domestic demand for high-efficiency electrical steel, especially in the renewable energy, energy transition for decarbonization, e-mobility, AI data centers etc,” said Jayant Acharya, chief executive of JSW Steel.

This capital investment along with the previously announced investments at Vijayanagar and the acquisition of the Nashik facility will take the overall investments to Rs 15,560 crore, he added.

JSW-JFE Electrical Steel is a 50:50 joint venture between JSW Steel and JFE Steel in Vijayanagar, and had planned to set up a 62,000-tonne CRGO manufacturing facility with a planned investment of Rs 5,557 crore. This is being enhanced to 1 lakh tonnes with an additional investment of Rs 1,545 crore.

The equity funding for the project is expected to be Rs 1,966 crore, which will be funded equally by JSW Steel and JFE Steel.

Upon completion of the capacity additions, the overall CRGO capacity will increase to 350,000 tonnes per annum by FY28.