Tata Steel will spin off its new material business (NMB) into a distinct corporation with plans to manufacture railway coaches, medical material devices, and graphene uses, according to Debashish Bhattacharjee, Tata Steel’s vice president of technology and NMB.
While the railway carriage will use composite materials, the medical material devices would use advanced ceramics created by the NMB, he said.
The new material business’s goal is to reduce CO2 emissions. EVs, aviation, and transportation — particularly metro rail and hyperloop — have emerged as significant drivers of the industry.
The company has created a joint venture with Dutch firm TABB Interior Systems to establish a 100% export-oriented composite material railway coach manufacturing near Pune with the NMB division, with a first-phase investment of Rs 700-800 crore by 2026. “By 2030 when the second phase of investment completes, our NMB revenues will run into several thousand crores,” Bhattacharjee stated.
The NMB division intends to partially insulate revenue from the cyclicality of the steel industry while responding to rising demand for alternative materials.
NMB will operate in three sectors: construction, electrical and electronics, oil and gas, aviation, automotive, healthcare, and medical devices. Tata Steel is open to mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and collaborations with startups and academic institutions for commercial development, according to Bhattacharjee.