STEELED FOR THE FUTURE

TATA STEEL PROCESSING AND DISTRIBUTION’S MANAGING DIRECTOR, ABRAHAM STEPHANOS, CAN LOOK BACK AT A STELLAR CAREER IN THE INDIAN STEEL INDUSTRY BUT PREFERS TO LOOK AHEAD TO NEW HORIZONS.

- Stephen Crowe

For Abraham Stephanos, it’s been a whirlwind ride; he not only watched, but also helped steer a renaissance in the Indian steel industry. In just two decades, the industry has gone from a traditional domestic supplier to a global powerhouse using technology and management practices that can match other nations’ capabilities. Abraham joined Tata Steel Processing and Distribution (TSPDL) 21 years ago, was appointed COO in 2007 and since late 2014 has been the Managing Director. He looks back with some pride at the transformation TSPDL has undergone in that time.

“We started as Tata Ryerson in 1997 and we were the first organized Steel Service Centre company in India,” he recalls. “The purpose of the service centre company was to make sure that customers got materials – in this case, steel – in the form and quantities they wanted. In 1997, the steel industry was dominated by two large companies, Tata Steel and SAIL.

“The suppliers had a lot of power in the equation, and customers really didn’t have any option but to take whatever steel they could get from one of those plants. But Tata Steel, looking to the future, understood that more and more customers wanted materials in processed form, and decided to set up service centres. At the time, Tata Steel’s joint venture partner, Ryerson, was the largest service centre company in the world,” he says.

A key driver of the surge in India’s steel industry in the 2000s came from the huge investment in the Indian automotive industry as it became a vehicle manufacturing centre for international suppliers. This growth also had implications for Tata’s operations.

“Companies like Ford and Nissan produce vehicles for India, but in some cases they also produce vehicles in India for their entire worldwide supply chain,” explains Abraham.