How automation technologies boost steel production
Steel production plays a pivotal role in India’ s economy. In 2023 alone, India produced over 140 million tons of crude steel 1, contributing significantly to both domestic infrastructure and exports, and positioning itself as the world’ s second-largest steel producer. The sector drives substantial global revenue, with steel exports exceeding 7.5 million tons 2, also in 2023, contributing about 2 % to India’ s GDP, and enhancing its global competitiveness. At the heart of this industry is the city of Jamshedpur, known as the“ Steel City”, which was established by the founder of Tata Steel over a century ago and continues to serve as a major hub for the nation’ s steel production.
By ABB & Tata Steel
For Tata Steel, a company synonymous with Indian steelmaking, the ongoing modernization of its operations is essential to remain at the forefront of an increasingly competitive global market. Despite the efficiency of traditional bar mills— built on decades of standardized processes— there are inherent limitations as to how much they can be optimized through conventional methods alone. To overcome these constraints, Tata Steel turned to ABB’ s deep domain expertise and technological prowess to modernize its new bar mill and attain better productivity, yield and availability, among other benefits.
Tata Steel and ABB have shared a close and productive relationship for over five decades, built on a strong foundation of mutual trust and technological collaboration. This partnership is driven by a joint mission to reduce the carbon footprint of steel production, which recently reached a new milestone with the successful modernization of Tata Steel’ s bar mill in Jamshedpur, India.
Steel demand in India is expected to rise 3 by more than 300 % by 2050, rising from approximately 103 million tons in 2021 to 430 million tons by 2050. This is, in part, driven by major infrastructure projects, rapid urbanization, and industrial growth spurred on by government initiatives such as the National Infrastructure
16 Green Steel World | Issue 17 | April 2025