Jamshedpur played host to the participants of the recently held 9th National Youth Festival. For nearly a week in mid-January, almost 3000 delegates from all parts of the county showcased their skills in fine arts and the performing arts as well as enjoyed the camaraderie of each other. For many of them, this was the most well organised Youth Festival. The excellent arrangements made by the local administration coupled with the support of high quality infrastructure facilities provided by Tata Steel made their sojourn even more memorable.

Tata Steel and Jamshedpur have also had the proud privilege of hosting His Excellency, Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the President of India. The occasion was the completion of 75 years of industrial harmony in the Steel Works at Jamshedpur. Indeed, Tata Steel is passing through a historic phase. Tubes Division, formerly known as Indian Tube Company, has completed 50 golden years and the Indian Steel & Wire Products Company has joined the Tata Steel Family.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the countdown of the greatest extravagance of the century. The party has just begun...
 

Mr R B Singh, Mr B Muthuraman and Dr T Mukerjee share the New Year at Steel Works

The Managing Director, Mr B Muthuraman conveyed his good wishes for the New Year to all the employees of the company and shared the Chairman’s message to all the employees of the Group. Mr Ratan Tata said that the Tata Groups’ performance had been good in the past year. This, he said, was achieved by its employees.

Pointing out an extremely significant achievement for the company, Mr Muthuraman announced, “Hot Rolled Material for all wheel disks in India are supplied Tata Steel. 100% of the automobiles made in India run on wheel disks made from HR material manufactured by Tata Steel.” Tata Steel has also received the Global Supplier Approval from the car manufacturer Honda. It’s galvannealed material has been approved by Hyundai Motor Corporation. Yet, another affirmation for the company’s product quality comes from Kalyani Leymors, Pune, which has been able to increase the wheel life for them by 20%. “Tata Steel must market its brands like an FMCG company and this will help us to command brand premium in the market,” Mr Muthuraman asserted.

Announcing that the Year 2004 will be the “Year of Safety”, Mr Muthuraman said that we must rededicate ourselves to the significance of safety. The campaign to create safety awareness shall be widely publicised. “It is highly regrettable that our fatal accident rate has remained the same for the past 50 years,” Mr Muthuraman lamented.

Congratulating departments and individuals for the achievements notched up during December 2003, the Managing Director said that the overall target for the BP FY05 has been set as an incremental EVA of Rs 150 crores at current prices. Plans for the Centenary Celebrations at Jamshedpur are already being firmed up and those for the out-locations are under discussion, Mr Muthuraman said. He also responded to queries on IPR activities, the NEDO Project and specified the rules for trading in the company’s shares.