Steel demand will continue to grow despite global geo-political situation: N Chandrasekaran

Tata Sons' chairperson N Chandrasekaran

Tata Sons Chairman N Chandrasekaran on Monday said the demand for steel will continue to grow irrespective of the prevailing global geo-political situation.

Chandrasekaran, speaking at the 186th birth anniversary celebration of Tata Steel founder J N Tata here, said the most important thing to recognise is that the “demand for steel will continue to grow and the best way to face such a situation was to be prepared by maintaining efficiency and cost-management, and increase productivity”.

He also said the company will need help of the government, its policies, employees and workers unions for technology adoption.“The management has to be bold to expand, maintain efficiency, manage cost and enhance productivity, while assuring to continue investing, including in Jamshedpur,” Chandrasekaran said.Asked about the raging debate on tariffs, he said there is “no point in talking about what will be the price/tariff; we have to focus on our productivity”.

Tariffs are import duties imposed and collected by the government, and paid by companies to bring foreign goods into the country. Commenting on the semiconductor industry, Chandrasekaran said companies will depend on chips, which will be significant for various sectors, including electronics, healthcare, defence and aerospace.

“We have to be self-sufficient in this field, and the Tata Group has invested in Assam and Gujarat to set up semi-conductor plants,” he added.Earlier, Chandrasekaran along with Tata Steel CEO and Managing Director T V Narendran and Executive Director and Chief Financial Officer Koushik Chatterjee, paid homage to J N Tata on his birth anniversary.