15% of world steel is with NRI, local group

MUMBAI: With the Tata Group’s takeover of Corus Group plc, now two Indian families together control 15% of global steel.

One is the non-resident Indian steel tycoon Lakshmi Niwas Mittal’s. Other is our homegrown Tata’s.

Mittal had put forth on January 27, 2006, a hostile bid to acquire the second largest steel entity Arcelor SA for $22.4 billion. Six months later, it had to pay about 40% more to acquire it.

Now, post-acquisition, Mittal’s combined entity accounts for about $70 billion in sales and 10% of the global steel production. That is nearly quadruple its closest competitor, Nippon Steel.

Mittal created his gigantic empire in two decades, primarily by buying steel plants cheaply across the world and turning them around. It was his last acquisition that, perhaps, forced Ratan Tata’s hand, because with the Arcelor-Mittal merger, size and consolidation became imperatives for the steel industry.

In the process, the Tata Group has once again marched ahead of every one else in sales, net profit and market capitalisation terms as the largest conglomerate in India.