The Indian steel major has major plans for the automotive steels segment and has been quite aggressive in winning new business from Indian carmakers. Tata Steel now has a supply contract with most Indian carmakers including Maruti, Hyundai, Hyundai, Honda and Ford, a position of strength built nearly entirely in the last five years.

Arcelor, along with Nippon Steel is the strength of Tata Steel's automotive foray. The joint-venture with Arcelor signed in July 2003 granted Tata Steel license to Arcelor's Hot Dip Galvanised (HDG) products. Further, behind the scenes work was going on regarding the development of low cost speciality automotive steels for critical applications like fuel tanks (a major chunk of these steels are still imported) and also helping Tata Steel venture into the halo legion of laser welded Tailored Blanks.

Now with L N Mittal baring his teeth to bite into the apple called Arcelor, a successful takeover may lead to a precarious situation for Tata Steel.