The Hindu Business Line : MetalJunction plans high-sea trading in nickel, tin soon

METALJUNCTION.com Pvt Ltd — the Tata Steel-SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd) joint venture in e-commerce — is planning to commence high-sea trading of nickel and tin in India. The project, expected to eliminate the hedging cost for booking forward contracts now borne by the user companies, will be taken up in partnership with an Indian importer.

"As per the proposal, the importing firm will be responsible for sourcing the commodities, while we will be securing customers for the same in India," the MetalJunction Managing Director, Mr Viresh Oberoi, told media persons here on Wednesday. "We are currently negotiating the business modalities with our prospective partner. Once that is through, we will start the auction."

To enhance the scope of business for its customers in the country, the company is negotiating for integration of trading platforms with Steel 24 X 7, the e-commerce initiative of Arcelor and Thyssen in Europe. "It is still in the formative stage, but would provide wider opportunities for the clients of both MJ and Steel 24 X 7," Mr Oberoi said.An initiative is on to develop a common trading language to integrate different trading platforms in the world for wider scope of e-commerce in steel and other metals, he added.

Having already taken up its e-finance programme for providing financial services to the buyers of steel industry through tie-ups with banks, MetalJunction is now gearing up for an ambitious project of e-retailing.

"In multi-layered transactions, there is a price margin of seven to 10 per cent at the retail end, which will now be shared by the customer and the MetalJunction through the e-retailing programme," he said.

Having registered a 134 per cent rise in turnover to Rs 2,135 crore during the last year, MetalJunctionhas also decided to be a public limited company without any change in share capital or the promoters' stake in the company.

"Being public limited will open several options before the company," Mr Oberoi said. "We have already applied before the registrar of companies and expect to get through the same by November."

More Stories on : E-Commerce & E-Business | Metals

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page