Latest news with #ArcelorMittal
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
SAP, Intel, Google, IBM bet big on India as strategic base; GCCs shift from East Europe amid cost, talent squeeze
Several multinational corporations, including ArcelorMittal, Heineken, Google, and Deutsche Bank, are shifting their global capability centers from Eastern Europe to India. HYDERABAD: Be it steel giant ArcelorMittal, beer maker Heineken, BFSI giants Deutsche Bank or UBS, or even tech giants Google, IBM and SAP, among others, - they are all moving their global capability centres, in part or full, from Eastern Europe to India. UBS has already consolidated some of its tech operations from Eastern Europe into centres in Pune and Hyderabad. Deutsche Bank, on the other hand, is relocating risk and compliance work from Romania to Bengaluru and aims to scale its India headcount to over 10,000 by 2026, sources in the GCC enablement ecosystem said. You Can Also Check: Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad "MNCs that previously nearshored to Poland and other Eastern European countries like Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Romania are now hitting a dead end due to the diminishing cost arbitrage on account of escalating operational costs and limited scalability due to talent saturation," JoulesToWatts founder & CEO Priti Sawant says. SAP, Intel, Google & IBM: Major firms eye India as strategic base SAP, which earlier operated out of Poland and the Czech Republic, has stepped up hiring in Bengaluru and Gurgaon, even as Wells Fargo is building out its AI and risk teams in Hyderabad. Intel too has beefed up its India engineering centres, pulling back slightly in Eastern Europe, they added. Google too is moving software engineering (Android, Chrome, and Cloud) as well as QA capabilities from its Krakow engineering hub in Poland, even as IBM is going for a strategic relocation of cloud services roles to India from its Warsaw hub, according to GCC enabler JoulesToWatts Business Solutions (J2W). by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo ArcelorMittal has set up a GCC in Hyderabad to focus on digital, analytics & global support for HR, IT and finance, even as companies like Bosch, PepsiCo and BT Group are learnt to be deepening their India presence while streamlining their cost-efficient operations in Europe. Neeti Sharma, CEO, TeamLease Digital, says over the last 12-18 months, there has been a clear rise in GCCs shifting operations from Eastern Europe or expanding their presence in India as a strategic hedge. "It's largely driven by a mix of geopolitical instability in Europe due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, rising costs in countries like Poland and Romania, and India's growing strength as a mature, scalable destination for global delivery and innovation," she says. Already, 15-20% GCCs with a base in Eastern Europe are learnt to be actively exploring India as a long-term alternative. Estimates provided by GCC enablers suggest that over the next 2-3 years, over 500 new GCC setups or major expansions driven from Eastern Europe could happen here, as companies realign their global delivery strategies and double down on India for talent and innovation. According to J2W, Eastern Europe block houses over 1,500 GCCs employing 0.5 million techies and generating $42.3 billion in revenue. However, ANSR says the region houses about 800 GCCs and GBS including over 420 in Poland, more than 140 in Romania, over 105 in Czech Republic and over 110 in Hungary. 50% BENEFIT IN SALARIES "If you take average salaries in Eastern Europe vs India, you are looking at a 50% benefit. So there is definitely a cost arbitrage by coming here," says Rohan Lobo, partner, Deloitte India. While pointing out that though Eastern European GCCs offer language capabilities in all European languages, Lalit Ahuja, founder & CEO, ANSR, says because of the much smaller talent pool, the demand-supply dynamics has sent talent costs soaring there. "India offers talent that takes accountability, understands the business and is culturally adaptable." adds Ahuja. "India offers a better cost-to-skill ratio, especially in areas like AI, analytics, cybersecurity, and financial services. There's also greater flexibility and scale when it comes to hiring digital and engineering talent," adds Sharma. "India also offers the entire gamut from product engineering, R&D, IT operations, business process operations, or even HR and finance functions," Lobo adds. "As long as we keep the hustle culture going, we will always be in demand," adds Sawant.
DW
3 days ago
- Business
- DW
ArcelorMittal's pullout plunges German green steel in doubt – DW – 07/17/2025
Despite being offered billions in subsidies, steel giant ArcelorMittal has suspended plans to transition to green steel production in Germany. Is this an isolated case — or a warning sign for the entire industry? Steel is the backbone of German industry — but it's also a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for nearly 7% of Germany's CO2 emissions. As Germany has pledged to become carbon-neutral by 2045 — five years earlier than the rest of the European Union — the steel industry must cut up to 55 million metric tons of CO₂ annually, which is roughly 30% of all industrial emissions, according to the German Steel Federation lobby group. In order to make German steel production significantly more sustainable, the previous government comprising the Social Democrats, the environmentalist Greens and the pro-business FDP had embarked on policies encouraging the use of hydrogen with huge state subsidies. Green hydrogen produced with renewable energy is planned to replace coal in the industry. One of the steelmakers who had initially applied for government subsidies was Luxembourg-based steel conglomerate ArcelorMittal under a corporate plan that intended to make the company's two German steel works carbon-neutral by 2050. The German government supported the plan, offering €1.3 billion ($1.5 billion) in subsidies to facilitate the transition to hydrogen-based steelmaking. However, last month, ArcelorMittal announced it was halting the decarbonization plans at its sites in Bremen and Eisenhüttenstadt, and that it would hand back the subsidy grant. "There has been slower than expected progress on all aspects of the energy transition, including green hydrogen not yet being a viable fuel source and natural gas-based DRI production not being competitive as an interim solution," ArcelorMittal Europe said in a statement. The company's Europe CEO Geert Van Poelvoorde added that the European steel market is currently under "unprecedented pressure, with weak demand and high levels of imports." The pullout of ArcelorMittal from the German green steel plan highlights the risk for companies to fully embark on a green transition course. The €1.3 billion in German state money were primarily intended to cover the massive upfront costs of building new production facilities. But that's only part of the problem. Using green hydrogen in steel production — produced by the electrolysis of water, using renewable electricity mainly from wind and sun — is still more expensive than grey hydrogen based on natural gas or coking coal. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Yet, green steel must ultimately compete on global markets with cheaper, conventionally produced steel. And while changes in global coal prices affect all steelmakers equally, says Stefan Lechtenböhmer, switching to hydrogen-based production means "entering a completely different market." "Hydrogen is produced locally, and long-distance transport is still very difficult today," the professor at the University of Kassel in Germany told DW, adding that green hydrogen requires large amounts of electricity, meaning that local power prices directly impact its cost. But the issue isn't just cost; supply is also a major challenge. German steelmakers will need a reliable and sufficient supply of green hydrogen, a portion of which is supposed to be produced domestically. According to Germany's National Hydrogen Strategy, the country aims to build up 10 gigawatts (GW) of electrolyzer capacity by 2030 to produce green hydrogen. But that target appears to be wishful thinking, because as of February 2024, Germany had just 0.066 GW of installed electrolyzer capacity, data from the government's Energy Transition Monitoring Report shows. "It's almost impossible to meet the 2030 target now," Martin Wietschel, energy expert at the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research, told German ARD public television recently. Energy experts agree that most of the hydrogen Germany needs will have to be imported from other countries, which is why the government has revised its strategy, now assuming that between 50% and 70% of the projected 2030 demand will have to be sourced from abroad. Berlin is now working to make sure that both foreign production capacity and extensive transport infrastructure will be in place by then. At the European Union level, a range of hydrogen infrastructure projects are in the pipeline to be completed by 2030 — including repurposing natural gas pipelines to carry hydrogen and constructing entirely new ones. Here, too, progress is hampered by setbacks. Several pipeline projects, for example, have been canceled or delayed, including a North Sea pipeline to Germany planned by Norway's Equinor, and a pipeline from Denmark. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video At the same time, shipping hydrogen across oceans is also not yet viable on a large scale. Hydrogen must be liquefied for ship transportation in a process that requires cooling it to minus 253 degrees Celsius (minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit). Alternatively, it can be converted into ammonia for transport, but that would lead to energy losses of around 50%, says Lechtenböhmer. As a result, transportation costs would cancel out the cost advantages of wind- or sun-rich countries like Namibia, Chile, or Australia, the expert added, which were touted as promising green hydrogen partners for Germany. Given the soaring costs and sluggish investments on both the supply and demand sides, a study by the Institute of Energy Economics (EWI) at the University of Cologne, Germany, doubts the EU's and Germany's 2030 goals for green steel are still achievable. But despite the challenges, ArcelorMittal is not abandoning green steel altogether — it's just shifting production to countries with more predictable and affordable electricity supplies. In May, the company announced that it will build its first new electric arc furnaces (EAFs) in Dunkirk, France, — one of the countries that are "able to provide visibility and certainty on low-cost electricity." The current electricity prices in Germany, the statement added, are high compared to both internationally and with European neighbors. By contrast, German steelmakers Thyssenkrupp and Salzgitter AG say they remain committed to Germany as the location for producing green steel. Following ArcelorMittal's pullback, both companies, however, called for faster infrastructure development and better safeguards for competitive energy prices. Unlike ArcelorMittal, which owns steelworks all over the world, the two companies' operations are solely based in Germany, lacking the flexibility to relocate production abroad. Public procurement could help them, particularly as the current government plans to spend massively on revamping German infrastructure under a multi-billion-euro investment plan. That money could also be used to support green steel production, Lechtenböhmer argues, but the government must be "willing to pay higher prices for green steel." In the long run, steel prices in Europe — whether conventional or green — are likely to rise due to a new EU emissions trading system coming into force in 2027. At the moment, says Lechtenböhmer, most industrial companies have received their emissions allowances for free. But the EU's new scheme will introduce a carbon market that will likely boost prices for coal-based steel compared with green steel. A study by the Boston Consulting Group projects that conventional steel will no longer be economically viable in Europe after 2030.
Time of India
3 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
AM/NS India commissions India's first high-strength galvanising line at Hazira
New Delhi: ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India ( AM/NS India ) has commissioned a new Continuous Galvanising Line (CGL) at its integrated steel plant in Hazira, Gujarat, becoming the first company in the country with a facility capable of producing Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS) with strength levels up to 1180 megapascals (MPa). The development is part of the company's ongoing ₹60,000 crore expansion project aimed at scaling up its upstream and downstream production capacity. The expansion project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2022 and targets increasing the Hazira plant's capacity from the current 9 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 15 MTPA, with a future goal of reaching 24 MTPA. The new CGL is designed to manufacture Galvanised (GI) and Galvannealed (GA) coated flat steels, including licensed products from parent companies ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel. These products are aimed at meeting the demand for high-formability and high-strength materials in the domestic automotive industry, especially in view of India's Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) Phase III norms coming into effect from April 2027. "The commissioning of the first-of-its-kind Continuous Galvanising Line marks another defining moment in our expansion project, inaugurated by the Hon'ble Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji. This ambitious project's efforts are now coming to fruition, and we can proudly say that the new line and upcoming facilities are designed to produce steel that matches the quality of offerings currently available in developed nations," said Dilip Oommen, Chief Executive Officer, AM/NS India. "With the constant support from our parent companies, we have set new benchmarks and further strengthened our ability to deliver world-class products, including the highest-strength steel ever produced in India to meet the evolving needs of the automotive sector. Indigenous production from this unique line will contribute meaningfully towards the country's self-reliance goal,' he added. The new line incorporates environmental technologies including waste heat recovery, advanced thermal energy control, regenerative electrical drives and the use of electrolytic hydrogen. These are expected to reduce CO₂ emissions intensity in line with India's Green Steel Taxonomy and sustainability goals. In addition to Hazira, the company is also progressing plans for new integrated steel plants in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Land acquisition has commenced in Andhra Pradesh, while planning for the Odisha project is underway. The company said the commissioning strengthens its downstream capacity for value-added steel products and helps reduce reliance on imports of high-grade steel. The facility also supports India's Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme and other initiatives to promote domestic manufacturing of specialised steel products.
The Hindu
4 days ago
- Automotive
- The Hindu
AM/NS India sets up new line to produce specialised steel for auto sector
ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) has announced the commissioning of a new, Continuous Galvanising Line (CGL) at its plant in Hazira, Gujarat making it the only company in India with a modern CGL line capable of producing Advanced High-Strength Steel (AHSS) with strength levels up to 1180 megapascals (MPa) – essential for safety, durability, and sustainability for automotive applications. It will manufacture Galvanised (GI) and Galvannealed (GA) coated flat steels, including ArcelorMittal as well as Nippon Steel's licensed products. These offerings will provide recyclability, high-formability, fuel efficiency through lightweighting, and enhanced safety – key requirements for modern mobility solutions, especially with India's Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) Phase III norms coming into effect in April 2027. The production capacity of 2 million tonnes from the new CGL will substitute imports of high grade specialised steel by automobile companies. Dilip Oommen, Chief Executive Officer, AM/NS India said, 'The commissioning of the new line and upcoming facilities are designed to produce steel that matches the quality of offerings currently available in developed nations. We will provide the best-in-class products that the country needs.' 'With the support from our parent companies, we have set new benchmarks and further strengthened our ability to deliver world-class products, including the highest-strength steel ever produced in India to meet the evolving needs of the automotive sector. Indigenous production from this unique line will contribute meaningfully towards the country's self-reliance goal,' he added. This is part of the company's ₹60,000-crore expansion project to develop upstream, downstream, and other enabling facilities. 'The expansion project is progressing well to scale up the company's production capacity from the current 9 mtpa to 15 mtpa, with a goal of reaching 24 mtpa at its Hazira plant. This includes both upstream and downstream steelmaking capabilities,' the company said. Separately, the company will set up an integrated steel plant in Andhra Pradesh where it has already commenced the land acquisition process. Plans are also on track to set up integrated steel plants in Odisha, where the company has presence.
Time of India
4 days ago
- Automotive
- Time of India
AM/NS India expanding capacity for downstream products by more than 51% by this year-end: Dilip Oommen
MUMBAI—AM/NS India is expanding capacity for downstream products by more than 51% to five million tonnes by this year-end, said Dilip Oommen , chief executive, underscoring efforts to meet demand from automobiles and other industries such as appliances. AM/NS India—a joint venture between steel giant ArcelorMittal and Japan's Nippon Steel—can currently produce up to 3.3 million tonnes downstream products annually. The company currently ranks among India's top flat steel producers, with a capacity of 9 million tonnes at its plant in Hazira, Gujarat. JSW Steel , the largest producer of steel in the country, has a downstream capacity of more than 13 million tonnes, while Tata Steel has more than 4 million tonnes of downstream capacity. On Wednesday, the company commissioned a continuous galvanising line in Hazira, becoming the only Indian company with the capability to produce steel with strength of up to 1180 megapascals. This high-strength steel, which finds application in the auto industry, is currently imported, and AM/NS is looking to substitute these imports. India currently consumes about 8 million tonnes of flat steel per year for automobiles, of which around 10-15% is imported. AM/NS will commission additional galvanising lines by the end of the year, further increasing its downstream offerings. 'This is a part of the Rs 8,500 crore capital expenditure planned for downstream expansion,' Oommen said. AM/NS India has already spent 85-90% of the planned capex. The remainder will be spent through the course of the year, he said. The company currently garners about 60% of its sales from downstream products. Apart from the auto sector, these downstream products will be used for manufacturing appliances, green steel, and in the solar energy space, said senior company executives. Automobiles, though, will remain a critical part of the company's downstream portfolio, given the premiumisation happening in the space, they added. As per its latest available financial results, in fiscal 2024, AM/NS posted a net profit of Rs 6,997.23 crore on a revenue of Rs 57,433.02 crore. It had earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of Rs 14,925 crore for the year.
