Essar Steel, the Hazira based steel major has recently designed and developed India's first Hot Rolled Dual Phase steel coil, a technological breakthrough in the high grade steel segment. The product has also now met stringent testing norms and successfully qualified for manufacture of auto components for General Motors, the world's largest automobile manufacturer.

Confirming the development, Mr. Vikram Amin, Executive Director, Essar Steel Limited said, "Essar Steel has now become the only Indian company to commercially supply Hot Rolled Dual Phase steel to our customers. "

The Hot Rolled dual phase steel is a high grade of steel designed by reorganizing the microstructure of the material, rendering it stronger and lighter. This makes it the ideal material in auto engineering, helping reduce kerb weights significantly, in effect improving vehicle mileages. The durability of the material also finds takers in applications that use lightweight and high tensile materials.

The local availability of Essar's dual phase steel also serves as an effective import substitute for dual phase material being currently locally used. Essar plans to tap local industries shelling out foreign exchange to import these materials are seen as a significant market for its higher grades of steel, quite similar to a trend it set in its API grade materials a few years back.

Targeting the high volume auto component industry, Essar Steel plans to market its products across both local and domestic vendors. The dual phase steel currently is being manufactured in the thickness range of 3.5mm. The same has already passed the tests for use in manufacture of auto components for General Motors. This is the first foray for any Indian steel company in to the quality conscious international auto component industry.

The $1billion strong domestic auto component industry is also seen as one of the largest consumers for this material. "Currently, the local auto component industry imports its dual phase steel requirements from international producers. With local availability of this material, this would provide a further competitive edge to this booming sector," adds Mr Amin. Incidentally, the Indian auto component industry is seen as one of the fastest growing sectors expected to clip the $5bn mark by 2008. Local manufacturers that service international auto giants currently account as one of the largest importers of dual phase steel in the country, a trend that Essar Steel hopes to reverse.

The HR Dual phase steel developed by Essar Steel is capable of withstanding more than twice the pressure of normal grades and this the company believes would give it a significant edge in specialized applications. "For instance, precision tube manufacturers undertaking trials on the material have found it ideally suited for use and this is definitely a huge opportunity to explore," adds Mr. Amin.

The recovery of the Indian steel sector has also seen steel companies such as Essar Steel using application research as a growth platform, developing and introducing higher grades of steel in the high margin value added steel market. "The focus has always been on innovation. Our efforts over the last few years are finally bearing fruit and we believe this is just the start of innovations to roll out of our research labs," says Mr Vikram Amin.

Interestingly, in a market dominated by the two giants SAIL and TISCO, Essar Steel with its R&D focus has quietly managed to carve out a niche, producing close to 350 grades, making it India's most versatile steel producer.