Arjas Steel Limited has commissioned a new ingot casting facility at its Tadipatri plant in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh, expanding its steelmaking capabilities and enabling expansion into higher-value, non-automotive applications. The facility was inaugurated by Bahirji Ajai Ghorpade, Chairman of Arjas Steel, in the presence of the company’s leadership team.
The new ingot casting line allows Arjas Steel to cast steel through the ingot route in addition to its existing continuous casting machine operations. This capability enables full utilisation of liquid steel by casting additional heats while avoiding loss of hot metal, improving operational flexibility at the melt shop level.
The ingot route is intended to serve applications that require superior internal soundness and controlled solidification, including forging, defence and ordnance, railways such as wheels and axles, heavy engineering, oil and gas, and specialised forging customers. These requirements are typically difficult to meet through continuous casting alone, particularly for larger cross-sections and critical components.
In bottom pouring, molten steel enters the mould from the bottom and rises smoothly without turbulence. This reduces oxygen pick-up and prevents the entrapment of slag and inclusions, which is critical for defence and aerospace grades where even microscopic flaws can compromise performance. The ingot route also enables higher forging reduction ratios, which are required to achieve specified mechanical properties in large and heavy forged components.
The addition of ingot casting strengthens the company’s ability to supply customers in the Pune-Ahmednagar-Rajkot industrial belt, which is the hub of India’s forging industry. Forging companies in this region supply components to
Arjas Steel Limited, formerly known as Gerdau Steel India, operates steel manufacturing facilities in Andhra Pradesh and Punjab and supplies special bar quality and long steel products to automotive and industrial customers in India and export markets. global original equipment manufacturers as well as domestic defence and railway programmes, creating demand for high-soundness steel ingots.
The commissioning follows the acquisition of Arjas Steel by Sandur Manganese & Iron Ores Limited in 2024, aligning with the parent company’s strategy to expand downstream steelmaking and move towards a more integrated metals value chain. In 2022, the company had announced a INR 6.10 billion capital expenditure plan aimed at increasing total capacity to 550,000 tonnes per year by 2025 across the Tadipatri and Punjab plants. In 2025 the company reported the full stabilisation and commercial benefits of its KOCKS RSB 5.0 Reducing and Sizing Block installation. The technology enabled the production of high-precision round and hexagonal bars with superior dimensional tolerance, strengthening Arjas Steel’s differentiation in export markets.
