An inspection team from the US Railways is likely to come within a month’s time to give final approval for supplies from the company’s manufacturing facilities at Bhavnagar in Gujarat, reveals the release. Once the approval is received, Steelcast Ltd will become the second such company from India.
To tap the huge US castings market successfully, Steelcast Ltd made the first move in June 2010, when it formed a 50:50 joint venture company with Michigan Steel, titled as Steelcast LLC. Steelcast also enjoys a technical and marketing alliance with Michigan Steel.
The market for steel castings is massive in the US, of which the US Railways constitutes a major share for freight transport, said Vaughn Makary, president and CEO of Steelcast LLC. “We have tied up with India’s Steelcast Ltd. as their manufacturing facilities are world-class and their product pricing is very competitive, especially against the major steel castings players from China,” added Mr Vaughn.
Steelcast has already received a castings order for the US Railways from one of the North American companies.
US advantage
According to Chetan Tamboli, CMD of Steelcast Ltd, “The US Rail demand for castings is so huge that over the next 5 years we expect our US JV to post revenues in excess of Rs 200 crore. In the first year itself (that is 2012-13), we expect sales of Rs 40 crore from Steelcast LLC.”
In addition to robust profit margins, the US Rail certification will also give the company a big advantage over its other peers, while bidding for contracts from the Indian Railways in future, especially the huge multi-billion rupee opportunities that will emanate from the upcoming Delhi-Mumbai Freight Corridor, opines Mr Tamboli.
The Indian Railways has already extended Class-A Foundry Status to Steelcast and sample orders for manufacturing couplers have been received. Furthermore, the Association for American Railways approval is at an advanced stage.
Jeeta Bandopadhyay |
Steelcast Limited, a leading steel castings company in India, is set to tap the huge demand for castings in the 
