Centenary Celebrations : Jamshedpur : 22 April 2008.
Welcome Address : B Muthuraman, MD, Tata Steel

The Hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh,
Hon'ble Governor of Jharkhand. His Excellency Syed Sibtey Razi,
Hon'ble Chief Minister of Jharkhand, Shri Madhu Koda,
Hon'ble Union Minister for Chemicals, Fertilizers and Steel, Shri Ram Vilas Paswan, Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Food Processing Industries, Shri Subodh Kant Sahay,
Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Steel, Shri Jitin Prasada,
Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs, Dr Rameshwar Oraon,
Hon'ble Union Minister of State for Communications, Shri Jyotiraditya Scindia,
President of the Tata Workers Union, Shri Raghunath Pandey,
Director of Tata Sons, Dr Jamshed Irani,
Distinguished guests, my colleagues in Tata Steel, citizens of Jamshedpur, ladies and gentlemen :

On behalf of Mr Ratan Tata, our Chairman, who has not been able to travel to Jamshedpur due to his being indisposed, and on behalf of all the employees of Tata Steel, it is my proud privilege and pleasure to welcome you all to this function to celebrate the Centenary of Tata Steel. The citizens of Jamshedpur and the people of Tata Steel are privileged to have the hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh as the Chief Guest on this historic occasion in the city where the seeds of industrialisation of India were sown a hundred years ago. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was here on our 50th year. Shrimati Indira Gandhi was here on our 75th year. It is an honour for all of us, Sir, the hon'ble Prime Minister of India, that you are with us on this historic day.

Tata Steel is as much a state of mind as it is a steel company and an industrial corporation. It is the state of mind of Tata Steel that makes Tata Steel what it is today :

- A member of the Tata Group that is owned two thirds by public philanthropic trusts, something unique in a world that increasingly applauds, private ownership and creation of wealth in individual's hands.

- Which believes that society is not just another stakeholder in the business but the prime purpose of it and has practiced 'inclusive growth' from long before the concept was adopted by the Corporate World.

- A work culture and ethics that is welcomed in all parts of the world.

- A Company that has had eighty years of uninterrupted industrial peace created by employees with a special spirit to work together, adapt themselves to changes and to improve their performance continuously.

Tata Steel in indeed an industrial Corporation with a difference.

We are living in unprecended times for the global steel industry. Prices of everything from raw materials to energy inputs to ocean freights and consequently of steel products have recently surged to unprecedented highs due to rapid steel demand growth from the developing economies, coupled with inadequate raw material availability. In a scenario like this, apart from exercising self-restraint on steel prices amidst raising input costs, which SAIL and Tata Steel are practicing, albeit with self imposed difficulties, the only sure way to contain steel prices is to urgently create new steel capacities in India matching or even exceeding the fast pace of demand growth unleashed by our liberalised economy.

Ever since the economic liberalisation, fathered by our hon'ble Prime Minister in 1991, Tata Steel has been expanding its capacity. In just 3 months from now, our Jamshedpur Works will be 7 million tonnes and by mid 2010, we will be 10 million tonnes in Jamshedpur, making it the largest capacity in a single location in India. We have planned three Greenfield projects : a 6 million tonne plant in Orissa, another 6 million tonne plant in Chattisgarh and a 12 million tonne plant in Jharkhand. In Orissa, after 3 years of struggle to acquire land and after a satisfactory rehabilitation and resettlement of people we are about to start construction of the steel plant. We are still awaiting allotment of iron ore for this plant. In Chattisgarh, land acquisition is just about to begin after two years of our being there. In Jharkhand, we await the R&R Policy to begin our land acquisition process and await allotment of iron ore leases for our new plant as well as the expanded Jamshedpur plant. The total capital outlay on these three Greenfield projects is Rs.80,000 cores and together with the expanded Jamshedpur works, we will have a capacity of 35 million tonnes in India by 2015 at a total investment of Rs.100,000 crores. Our Greenfield projects can be considerably speeded up if we are able to acquire land quickly and peacefully and we are given captive leases of iron ore and coal.

The Indian economy, freed from its shackles seventeen years ago has grown in strength and robustness to consume increasing quantities of steel by 10-15% year on year. For this robust growth rate to be converted into wealth for our nation and for our people, we need to vastly increase the speed with which new steel capacity is getting created in India.

On behalf of Tata Steel, I would like to assure the hon'ble Prime Minister that with Government's support on easing the land acquisition process and granting captive iron ore and coal mines, we would speed up our projects. This is not only true for Tata Steel but for the entire Indian Steel Industry. The current global situation of raw materials is such that two countries and 3 or 4 mining Companies in the world control most of the iron ore and coal and the global steel industry is at the mercy of these Companies. It is in this context that the steel industry of India needs to have captive raw materials to make it competitive and serve the interests of this Nation.

Tata Steel has had a sustainable growth for a hundred years often through difficult and challenging times - always playing its part in helping to build this Nation, always an integral part of our society. We will continue to be so and irrespective of wherever we set foot in the world, our prime goal is to continue to serve the cause of India.

Once again, it is with great pleasure that I welcome you all to this Centenary Celebrations of Tata Steel and a very special welcome to our Chief Guest, the hon'ble Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh.

Thank you.