The JSW Group, which describes itself as a US$22 billion business conglomerate with interests in steel, energy, infrastructure, cement, paints, E-commerce, sports and venture capital, has entered into an exclusive strategic agreement with IIT, India's premier engineering and technology institute, with a view to establishing a state-of-the-art JSW Technology Hub, in India for steel manufacturing in the country.
IIT Bombay, says JSW, has created The Centre of Excellence in Steel Technology (CoEST) with the support of the Ministry of Steel, Government of India, and other industry partners. The aforementioned JSW Technology Hub will be established within CoEST and the key objective is to achieve 'a rapid expansion of quality steel production whhile maintaining carbon emissions within the target levels'.
JSW believes that partnering with IIT Bombay will allow the leading Indian steelmaker to undertake and intensify R&D efforts in the steel sector 'to develop competent capabilities in the area of steel technology for the Indian conglomerate'.
According to JSW Group, the Hub will be 'the nodal point for JSW Group's research activities beyond the steel domain with JSW providing financial and technical support to establish and build the facility with state-of-the-art infrastructure to undertake a wide range of R&D for steel manufacturing and its use.
“Our strategic partnership with IIT Bombay is one-of-its kind industry-academia collaboration for advancement of research in steel manufacturing."
Sangita Jindal, chairperson, JSW Foundation
“Our strategic partnership with IIT Bombay is one-of-its kind industry-academia collaboration for advancement of research in steel manufacturing. This powerful combination will jointly leverage IIT Bombay’s knowledge-rich faculties and JSW’s technical capabilities to develop novel industrial applications for steel manufacturing with focus on low carbon emissions. This partnership will also initiate new academic courses while consolidating existing courses. We will also provide academic and technical leadership in broad areas of research while working towards increasing steel consumption in the country.”
Both IIT Bombay and JSW Group will leverage the JSW Technology Hub to conduct inter-disiplinary research projects and technical activities on various aspects of steel production. Such collaboration will enable the development of patented industrial applications and solutions which could be operationalized and/or commercialized going forward. A special committee will be formed to steer the collaborative activities.
“We continue to innovate across our business operations, be it in the way we diversify our product portfolio, focus on technology adoption, and reduction in carbon emission intensity across our operations."
Seshagiri Rao, joint MD, JSW Steel & Group CFO
Seshagiri Rao, joint MD JSW Steel & Group CFO, commented: “We continue to innovate across our business operations, be it in the way we diversify our product portfolio, focus on technology adoption, and reduction in carbon emission intensity across our operations. Our thrust on R&D and product development has made us the largest and preferred supplier across categories be it in automotive with our advanced high-strength steel products, in food packaging category through our tinplate products, in white goods through our corrosion-resistant steel products, etc. JSW Group’s strategic partnership with IIT Bombay is a progressive step on our ongoing journey to be future-ready and equip ourselves to continue delivering sustained value to all our stakeholders.”
Lastly, IIT Bombay plans to establish the Sajjan Steel Professor Chair, which would help IIT Bombay to adopt an interdisciplinary, collaborative, synergetic and translative approach to advance R&D and address application-oriented demands from industry, society and government.