Shri Hare-Krishna Sponge Iron Ltd is an Indian manufacturer that is deliberately turning away from selling basic commodity steel to instead make high-performance metal components that the country currently imports. The company was founded in 2003 in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, by a family with deep roots in the steel trade, and it spent its first two decades building a conventional sponge iron and steel plant. Its defining move, and the logic that now shapes everything it does, is a pivot driven by a single problem: external power was so expensive that it forced the company to shut its downstream furnaces, so it is now building its own green power plant to slash energy costs and using that cheap power to restart operations and push into a new line of high-alloy wear parts that compete with Chinese imports on quality and price. # Business segments A single steelworks in transition - a sponge iron base, temporarily idled furnaces awaiting cheap captive power, and a new casting division being built to make import-substitute wear components. ## 1. Sponge iron and by-products: the base-load business that keeps the plant running **The company makes sponge iron, the purified raw material for steelmaking, and sells every by-product the process creates - even the waste heat is now being turned into power.** - **The first step in steelmaking** - sponge iron, also called direct reduced iron (DRI), is produced by removing oxygen from iron ore in a kiln, and it is the primary metallic input for the induction furnaces and electric arc furnaces that other steelmakers operate. - **Sells everything it makes** - beyond the main sponge iron product, the process generates char and dolochar (used as alternative fuel in power generation) and iron ore fines (rejected raw material that is sold on), so there is almost no waste stream from the kiln. - **A regional supplier with a 21,600-tonne annual capacity** - the plant in Siltara, Raipur, spread over roughly 13.45 acres, was running at 85% utilisation as of late 2025 and sells to steel producers across Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. ## 2. Captive green power: the cost advantage that unlocks everything else **By generating its own electricity from waste heat and biomass at less than half the grid price, the company turns its biggest cost burden into a structural advantage.** - **Power from what used to be waste** - a 3 MW Waste Heat Recovery Boiler (WHRB) plant, which began operating in June 2026, captures hot flue gases from the sponge iron kiln that were previously vented into the air and converts them into electricity. - **A second fuel source on the way** - a 2 MW biomass plant, expected to start by July 2026, will burn solid waste from the DRI plant along with rice husk and other alternate fuels, making the power setup entirely non-fossil. - **The economics are simple** - grid power costs around ₹8 per unit, while in-house generation is projected at no more than ₹4 per unit, which is why the company can now afford to restart furnaces it had previously shut down. ## 3. Furnace, rolling mill and steel shots: the idled downstream engines waiting for cheap power **The company already owns the equipment to turn sponge iron into structural steel and industrial abrasives; these units were mothballed because of high electricity bills and are being brought back online now that captive power is flowing.** - **Melts sponge iron into ingots** - the induction furnace, added in 2005, takes sponge iron, adds alloying elements, and casts MS and high-tensile ingots that can be sold directly or rolled into finished shapes. - **Rolls beams, angles and channels** - a semi-automated rolling mill, installed in 2007, produces structural steel sections used in bridges, highways, railways, factories, warehouses and buildings. - **Makes the grit that cleans metal** - a steel shots and grits unit, started in 2012 as an import-substitution play against Chinese supplies, produces the consumable abrasive media used for shot blasting and surface preparation in industry. - **Restart is underway** - maintenance and refurbishment work on the induction furnace, rolling mill and steel shots facilities had already begun by late 2025, with the rolling mill targeted to resume by end-March 2026. ## 4. Specialised casting: the import-substitute bet on high-alloy wear parts **This is the company’s forward leap - a new factory to make tooth points, grinding balls and chain links that mining, cement and defence industries currently buy from abroad, priced to undercut imports by 3-4% while claiming better quality.** - **Parts that wear out fast and need constant replacement** - tooth points for excavators and earth-moving machines, high-chrome grinding media balls for crushing ore and cement, and high-alloy cast steel chain links for high-temperature conveyor systems are all consumables with recurring demand driven by short replacement cycles. - **Targets an 80% import gap** - only about one-fifth of India’s tooth point requirement is made domestically; the rest comes from overseas, mainly China, and even at the company’s planned 1,000-tonne output the country would still import 50-60% of its needs. - **Power is the main raw material** - because casting is electricity-intensive, the whole business case rests on the cheap captive power from the WHRB and biomass plants, making this division the direct economic beneficiary of the green-energy investment. - **Already chasing OEM customers** - management has been in discussions with equipment makers like JCB and displayed prototypes at the Excon construction-equipment exhibition in Bangalore in December 2025, signalling that the go-to-market push is underway before the plant even starts. # Group structure and partners **The company stands alone - no operating subsidiaries, no joint ventures, and its only associate has never commenced business.** - **A clean, single-entity structure** - the company has no subsidiaries or joint ventures, and its one associate, Special Mines & Minerals Private Limited (a 31.58% stake acquired in 2011), has not yet started any business activity. - **A dormant coal-mining consortium stake** - the company holds a 4.48% interest in C.G. Sponge Manufacturers Consortium Coal Fields LLP, a 14-partner consortium formed for coal mining, but its coal block was cancelled by the Supreme Court in 2014 and compensation is still pending with the government. - **A related-party chain maker** - a separate group company runs a specialised unit manufacturing different kinds of chains, and the company has extended a ₹125 lakh loan to Indo Chains (Raipur) Private Limited, where its directors also serve as directors and members.