Tata Metaliks, the largest producer of foundry-grade pig iron in the country, has decided to go ahead with one of its value-addition projects, a Ductile Iron (DI) pipe manufacturing joint venture with the world''s leading DI pipe maker, Kubota Corporation of Japan, at Kharagpur.

The company''s board of directors at a board meeting held on March 29, 2007, approved the project as a joint venture with world leaders in DI pipe making, Kubota Corporation of Japan.

The other Japanese partner in this joint venture is Metal One Corporation. Besides equity participation, Kubota will also bring in its state-of-the-art technology in DI pipe manufacturing and will provide the best operational practices with Japanese standards.

The joint venture, which will be a subsidiary of Tata Metaliks, will initially produce 110,000 tpa DI pipes of international quality standards, a part of which will be exported.

The proposed pipe manufacturing facility will use liquid pig iron from Tata Metaliks'' existing mini blast furnaces and is expected to be operational by 2009. DI pipe is a long-lifecycle product which allows for efficient water management. The world-class product from the plant will greatly assist the infrastructural development in the country.