Tata Steel CEO Demands UK Government Financial Assistance

According to her boss, Tata Steel needs "substantial and ongoing" financial support to continue to operate in the UK as UK operations are "close" to self-sufficiency.
This came after the former head of strategy at the company said that Tata "must find a way out" from its UK steel production.

The UK government has said it will continue to work with Tata.

The Indian steel giant plans to sell its operations in the Netherlands, raising fears over the future of its Port Talbot and other UK plants.

Mr Narendran said: “Tata Steel Europe has been positive and neutral for the past six months and has not received support from India.

“Operations in the UK are close to achieving the goal of being self-sufficient. The mandate is to work without the support of India. "

He also said that while the UK government has already provided some financial assistance in connection with Covid, it is not enough for the "long term."

“The support we are looking for will be a little more substantial and more permanent, which will help us reduce production costs and add value to our product portfolio.

"Or help us move to a greener facility for some time."

The UK government said it "remains committed to supporting a sustainable and long term future for UK steel production."

"Hope, not strategy"

However, Nirmala Kumar, former head of strategy at Tata, said the company "cannot sustain more than 100 million in losses forever" after the firm said it must make its UK business "self-sufficient."

Kumar said Tata's "self-sustaining" idea was "hope, not strategy."

Tata Steel said it plans to sell the European arm of its business and keep the UK business, based primarily in South Wales, without financial backing from India.

Tata Steel UK suffered a £ 654m pre-tax loss through March 2020 - before the coronavirus pandemic hit steel demand.

The company employs approximately 8,000 people in the UK, about half of whom are based in Port Talbot and most of the rest in Wales.

Tata said it is in dialogue with the UK government on “possible measures to ensure the long-term future of Tata Steel UK”.

Mr. Kumar says Tata is now "looking forward" to solving the problem of its steel production in the UK.

“I suspect that until the Tata Group can afford the losses, they will continue to do so,” Kumar told BBC Wales Live.

“But sooner or later