Automotive Steel Technology Cooperation Agreement between Nippon Steel， Arcelor and Tata Steel

On 10th April ， 2002， Nippon Steel Corporation of Japan， Arcelor of Europe， and Tata Steel of India， have signed an Automotive Steel Technology Cooperation Agreement to work jointly on technical cooperation addressing the needs of the Indian automotive steel market. The Agreement aims at providing the Indian automotive industry with effective steel solutions， and then improving the efficiency and the performance of these three steel companies.

Nippon Steel and Arcelor， who have a proven track record of technical expertise in providing steel products for the automotive industry all over the world， will assist Tata Steel technically in the latter’s increasingly emerging efforts to cater to the requirements of automotive customers in India. As a part of this cooperation， Nippon Steel and Tata Steel signed an agreement on 15th February 2002， whereby Nippon Steel is assisting Tata Steel technically in producing automotive grade cold rolled steel products. Arcelor and Tata Steel have begun studies on the requirements of galvanised steel strips for use in India in the automotive industry and on Arcelor providing technical assistance to Tata Steel in producing galvanised steel strips for automotive use.

From now on， the three steel companies will work together on fulfilling the specific technical requirements of automotive customers in India. The subjects which will be discussed will include joint technical activities required for a wider acceptance of high tensile and galvanised steel strips amongst the automotive customers in India， keeping in view the requirements of safety， environment and reduced car weight.

The three steel companies are confident that the progress of and the results from the Automotive Steel Technology Cooperation Agreement will provide the Indian automotive customers with effective steel solutions to make them technologically up-to-date thereby keeping them competitive. This will bring major benefits to the automotive customers operating in India and help them to pursue global business developments all over the world.