Tata Steel group company Tinplate Company of India Ltd (TCIL) is set to benefit from the parent company’s acquisition of Corus plc.
Corus plc has a presence in packaging steel used in packing food, drinks and aerosols with a unit in Carmarthenshire that employs 800.
“Tata Steel’s acquisition of Corus would benefit TCIL particularly from application engineering in packaging. In fact, teams of TCIL and Corus’ packing division are currently working together to explore ways to develop packaging applications,” Tata Steel managing director and TCIL chairman B Muthuraman said while addressing the annual general meeting of TCIL in Kolkata on Friday.
Muthuraman said the short-term outlook for TCIL is not so bright as prices of the key input, hot rolled steel, have risen steeply even as international tinplate prices remain subdued.
He said exports have also been hurt, although the company is investing in building key international markets.
In the first quarter of the current financial year, the company’s profit before tax has shrunk one-tenth to Rs 71 lakh from Rs 7 crore earned during the year-ago period.
In 2006-07, the company’s bottom line dropped to Rs 19 crore from Rs 49 crore in 2005-06.