Mahindra Intertrade has formed a joint venture with China Steel Global Trading Corporation, Taiwan, and Singapore-based Mitsui & Co (Asia Pacific) Pte. Ltd to set up an automotive steel service centre at Chakan.
Mahindra Intertrade, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Group, will hold 51 per cent in the joint venture, while the other two partners will hold 24.5 per cent each.
To be built over 10 acres, the Chakan facility will involve a financial outlay of Rs 150 crore ($24 million). It will have an annual processing capacity of 130,000 tonnes when it begins operations in the fourth quarter of FY 2015.
“This facility will be one of the few merchant producers of steel blanks and profiles offering the full range of services from sourcing to customised JIT delivery solutions,” said Harsh Kumar, Managing Director.
Julian Shir, Vice-President, Planning and Administration Division, China Steel, said the China Steel Corporation (CSC) Group had lately been developing high-end steel products such as automotive steel, and India was one of the key markets for it.
The raw stock for the facility would be imported from China Steel Global, Taiwan, as well as sourced locally.
The steel service centre will offer automotive customers in the Pune region services such as sourcing, warehousing, yield optimisation, forex risk management and SKU-wise delivery and products such as blanks, trapezoids and profiles.