According to a companystatement, JSW Steel decided to forge a joint venture with Japan's JFE Steel toset up a 0.6 million tonne per annum (mn tpa) electric steel manufacturingfacility at its Vijayanagar plant in Karnataka.

This would be thecompany’s maiden electric steel manufacturing project, the statement said. Thestatement did not divulge details of the investment. Initially, this facilityshall produce 0.4-0.5 mn tpa of Cold Rolled Non-grain Oriented (CRNO) gradeelectrical steel. The company will also focus on the production of Cold RolledGrain Oriented (CRGO) grade in future.

As pert the statement,the production of electric steel will be increased in a phased manner and thecompany aims to become the largest domestic producer in this category. Thefirst phase of the facility shall produce 0.2 mn tpa CRNO and which shall beexpected to get commissioned in next 24 months from the date of receivingrequisite approvals.