IIT Bombay, JSW Group to establish technology hub for steel manufacturing

IIT Bombay, India’s premier engineering and technology Institute and US$ 22 billion JSW Group, India’s leading business conglomerate with interests in Steel, Energy, Infrastructure, Cement, Paints, E-commerce, Sports, and Venture Capital, have entered into an exclusive strategic agreement to establish first-of-its-kind, state-of-the-art JSW Technology Hub in India for steel manufacturing in India. JSW Steel is a leading steel company in the country and flagship business of JSW Group.

The partnership with IIT Bombay will also allow JSW Group 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. The JSW Technology Hub will also be the nodal point for JSW Group’s research activities beyond the steel domain.

According to the Agreement signed between IIT Bombay and JSW Group:

1. JSW will provide financial and technical support to establish and build the JSW Technology Hub with state-of-the-art infrastructure to undertake a wide range of R&D for steel manufacturing & its use. The centre will be constructed using JSW Neosteel Rebars ranging from 8mm to 36mm diameters with Fe550D grade. IIT Bombay is expected to complete the construction of the JSW Technology Hub by FY28.
2. IIT Bombay and JSW Group will leverage the JSW Technology Hub to jointly conduct inter-disciplinary research projects and technical activities on various aspects of steel manufacturing and its use.
3. The Technical collaboration allows IIT Bombay and JSW to undertake Research and Training projects to develop patented industrial applications and solutions. JSW could decide to operationalize as well as commercialize these industrial applications in the future.
4. A Joint Steering Committee will be established with representation from IIT Bombay and JSW Steel. This Committee will steer the IITB-JSW Technical collaboration.
5. IIT Bombay will also establish the Sajjan Jindal Steel Professor Chair to enable focused training and research on new and emerging technologies in steel manufacturing. The institution of this Chair would help IIT Bombay adopt an interdisciplinary, collaborative, synergetic, and translative approach to consistently advance research and address application-oriented demands from the industry, society as well as the government. The Chair would strive to leverage the existing knowledge base and provide a platform for further innovation and scale.

According to Sangita Jindal, Chairperson of 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.”

According to Seshagiri Rao, Joint MD JSW Steel & Group CFO, “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.”

According to Prof. Subhasis Chaudhuri, Director, IIT Bombay, “Our CoEST has a vision to facilitate the Indian steel sector to become a world leader. This agreement with JSW Group will help to further strengthen our efforts in this direction. Through this partnership, we would like to achieve rapid scale-up of quality steel production while enabling India to meet its sustainability goals by keeping carbon emissions within targeted levels.”  

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