Tata Steel Mulls Setting Up Rs 2,500Cr Unit In Tamil Nadu

Chennai: Tata Steel, leading steel maker, on June 28 inked a memorandum of understanding with Tamil Nadu government to set up an integrated titanium dioxide manufacturing facility in Tuticorin district of Tamil Nadu at an investment of Rs 2,500 crore. The MoU was signed today at the secretariat in the presence of Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi and Tata Group chairman Ratan Tata, among others. The project envisages mining and mineral separation, followed by value addition to Synthetic Rutile and titanium dioxide or pigment, a key ingredient for the paints industry, among others. The project will be implemeneted over a period of six years. It may be recalled that Tata Steel had signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government in 2002 to undertake a techno-economic feasibility study for setting up this titanium project using the mineral sands available in southern districts -- Tirunelveli and Tuticoin -- of Tamil Nadu