TV Narendran, MD, Tata Steel | Photo Credit: KAMAL NARANG
Tata Steel expects ₹8,000-crore revenue from its new materials business (NMB) which includes graphene, fibre reinforced polymers and medical materials such as hydroxyapatite and collagen.
The company has been developing the intellectual property-driven business to overcome cyclical nature of steel business.
Tata Steel had set up the NMB division four years ago to explore opportunities other than steel. The composites business of NMB focuses on three segments – industrial, infrastructure and railways. The product offerings in industrial segment include pressure vessels, tanks and customised chemical handling equipment. The infrastructure segment has products like pipes, poles, smart architecture and pultruded products. The offerings in the railways segment are panels, windows and troughs.
TV Narendran, Managing Director, Tata Steel, told BusinessLine that even while growing the capital intensive steel business, the company is developing knowledge-driven business by leveraging its understanding of materials such as ceramics which does not need much capital but involves lot of IP.
Revenue from new materials will double to about ₹600 crore this year as demand grows mainly for graphene, fibre reinforced polymers and medical materials.
Going ahead, each of these products will have a turnover of ₹4,000 crore. In five years, the new material business will be worth $1 billion (₹8,000 crore).
Earlier, N Chandrasekaran, Chairman, Tata Group, said the company aims to accelerate innovation in new materials business with technology collaborations and wants to grow adjacent revenue streams by commercialising the in-house intellectual property through innovative products in new markets.
“The company is exploring composites, graphene and advanced ceramics as areas of growth,” he said in the company’s latest annual report
Tata Steel has already started working on building a world-class facility to produce medical materials with a focus on healthcare.
The composites business developed new products such as fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) sleepers, illumination poles and silicon carbide lined FRP pipes for Flue Gas Desulphurisation application.
One of the key initiatives of the business is to provide FRP solutions to many applications. The life cycle cost of FRP is lower because its higher corrosion resistant.
Last year, the business introduced Wondra, a graphene enriched PVC and HDPE pipes. The industrial products of elastomers and polymers, enriched with graphene, are under market validation. Graphene technology in the areas of energy, lifestyle and well-being are under evaluation, said the company in the annual report.
The medical materials and devices division has piloted sprayable grade of Hydroxyapatite recently. Fish-scale derived collagen and gelatin were also manufactured and are currently being tested at accredited third-party facilities for analytical and biocompatible parameters. Last year, it consolidated its position in the import-dominated advanced ceramics material market with a dedicated bio-ceramic production facility.