Tata Sponge Iron (TSIL) was incorporated in 1982 as joint venture between Tata Steel and the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa (IPICOL). Later in 1991, Tata Steel acquired IPICOL’s stake in joint venture. Tata Sponge, which has its manufacturing facility at Bilaipada (in Joda Block of Keonjhar District in Orissa), was initially set up  in the name of Ipitata Sponge Iron Limited. It has moved on since, becoming an associate company of Tata Steel following the former’s acquisition of IPICOL’s stake in 1991. The name of the Company has been changed to Tata Sponge Iron Limited w.e.f 24th September, 1996. Subsequently, w.e.f. 28th August, 2012, Tata Sponge Iron Limited became the subsidiary of Tata Steel Limited.

The company is engaged in business of manufacturing high-grade sponge iron that is consistent in quality.  The company has an annual manufacturing capacity of 390,000 tonnes of sponge iron from its three kilns. Its production plant is situated at Bilaipada in Orissa.

For production of sponge iron, the raw material required is iron ore, non-coking coal and dolomite. To meet the raw material requirement, the company has iron ore reserves located in the northern part of Orissa. It acquires coal from the collieries of Central Coalfields, South Eastern Coalfields and Mahanadi Coalfields and dolomite is acquired from Tata Steel's Gomardih dolomite quarry.

The company also operates a modern R&D facility that is set up along with a chemical laboratory to conduct the monitoring process. This R& D facility introduced Tisco Direct Reduction (TDR) -- an innovative technology for making sponge iron.

TSIL's manufacturing facilities have been accredited with ISO-9002 and ISO 14000 certifications for its quality management.

Tata Sponge Iron operates two captive power plants that produce a total capacity of 26 MW of power.

Awards and Recognition

Tata Sponge Iron was awarded Certificate of Appreciation by The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) for company’s efforts towards environmental management and innovative initiatives.

The company received Greentech Environment Excellence Gold Award for the year 2006-07 by Greentech Foundation in recognition of company’s initiatives in conserving the environment.

The company received “Golden Peacock National Quality Award - 2007”.

Earth Care Award 2008 for the company’s relentless pursuits towards Greenhouse gas, mitigation and combating climate change, conferred by JSW and Times of India with technical support from The Energy Research Institute (TERI) and Centre of Environment Education (CEE), on 22nd April 2008.

Golden Peacock National Quality Award from Institute of Directors (awarded in January 2008)

In 2010, Tata Sponge wins Green India Award for Environment Excellence

Tata Steel (Parent Company)

Tata Sponge Iron is part of the Tata Steel Group of companies, which owns a wide spectrum of companies engaged in the business of steel and steel related manufacturing. It owns companies namely Corus, Tinplate Company of India, Tayo Rolls, Tata Ryerson, Tata Refractories, Tata Metaliks, Tata Pigments, Jamshedpur Injection Powder, TM International Logistics, Metal Junction Services, TRF , The Indian Steel and Wire Products and many more.