The equally owned joint venture company will manufacture zinc/aluminium metallic coated steel, painted steel and roll-formed steel products, and deliver pre-engineered buildings and other building solutions.
"Together, BlueScope and Tata Steel have forged a powerful partnership, which will capitalise on the strengths of our two organisations in steel production and in bringing to market premium quality branded products," BlueScope managing director and CEO Kirby Adams said.
"Both companies see the value in implementing this coated steel development strategy across South and North Asia," he said.
The joint venture plans to construct a $A265 million state-of-the-art facility in Jamshedpur, in Jharkhand east India, adjacent to Tata Steel's existing steelworks.
The new facility is expected to have an annual metallic coating capacity of 250,000 tonnes and paint line capacities of 150,000t.
The joint venture company will assume ownership and responsibility for the development of three pre-engineered buildings and roll-forming manufacturing plants, under construction by BlueScope at Pune, Chennai and New Delhi.
BlueScope's Lysaght roll-forming business in Sri Lanka will also fall under the joint venture ownership.
The joint venture projects are expected to be operational by mid 2008, with construction activities expected to start by mid-2006, subject to government approvals.
Head office for the new business will be in Pune, in central India.
The joint venture agreement will be officially signed at a ceremony later this month when details of the new management will be released. Tata's board has already approved the joint venture.
