MUMBAI (Commodity Online): After an eight-year term at the helm of Tata Steel, B Muthuraman formally handed over the charge to HM Nerurkar.
After a meeting, Tata Steel agreed to appoint Muthuraman as non-executive vice-chairman. Nerurkar was appointed as managing director of Tata Steel, and Kirby Adams was appointed as MD and CEO of Tata Steel Europe. Both Nerurkar and Adams will report to the board of Tata Steel.
The appointment of Muthuraman as non-executive vice-chairman is in line with what was recently implemented in two other group companies — Tata Motors and TCS.
Muthuraman’s tenure as MD saw the Jamshedpur-based steelmaker acquire Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus for $13 billion, catapulting the Indian company as the world’s fifth-largest steelmaker by capacity. While the acquisition is gradually giving synergistic benefits, the high cost of acquisition and the recent slowdown in Europe has prompted Tata Steel to reset banking covenants on loans taken to acquire Corus and also recently close down some overseas units to cut costs.
Apart from tackling these issues, the new management will also have to address reported displeasure among Corus employees on Tata Steel’s decision to provide bonus to Jamshedpur employees, while ignoring to pay Corus staff.
Before being appointed as executive director, Nerurkar was in charge of flat products division. He has also been in charge of most of Tata Steel’s vital projects with robust exposure in marketing.
