Tata Steel Chief Executive and Managing Director T V Narendran in an interview with Ishita Ayan Dutt of Business Standard said “There should be some easing without compromising on the actions being taken to contain the pandemic. The country is too large and complex to be under complete lockdown for too long without harming economic activity irreparably. So, while we shouldn’t compromise on the health of people, a selective easing of the situation is probably required.”
When asked about he feels about the demand bouncing back once the lockdown is lifted, he said “I don’t expect the lockdown to be completely lifted for some time because the battle to contain the pandemic is still on. Things may be better than what it was in the past three weeks. But it will take six months to one year to move to normalcy, or to where we were in January-February, depending on how the pandemic plays out in India”.
When asked about Tata Steel’s reduced operations despite being under ESMA (Essential Services Maintenance Act he said “The first one week was most challenging. The main steel plant sites at Jamshedpur, Angul, and Kaliganagar had the permission to operate. But steel plants don’t operate in isolation. So, the first one week, we were focused on ensuring critical consumables come in and we were operating at 80-90 percent. Once we had the supply chain in control, we were driven by our need to optimize demand and cash. Most of our customers like the auto firms and construction sites were closed. We then recalibrated, optimizing cash and inventory levels. The focus was on adding value to raw materials rather than investing in buying more. Hence, in the past 10 days, we have been operating at 50 percent levels at key sites.”
Speaking about the impact of the pandemic on Tata Steel Europe, he said “The experience in Europe is slightly different because there is no lockdown there. There is a slowdown as some of the customers like auto companies are closed, and to that extent, there is a drop in sales. But there are many other sectors like packaging that are continuing to take in steel. Europe sales are at 70 percent of normal levels and there is a view that life will start coming back to normal after Easter”.
Source: Business Standard
