Tata Steel, established in 1907 is Asia's first and India's largest integrated private sector steel producer is the world's 6th largest steel producer. With the recent acquisition of Corus, the combined enterprise has a total crude steel production capacity of around 30 million tonnes and over 82,000 employees across four continents. Tata Steel has operations in 27 countries and is the second most globally diversified steel group. Tata Steel commits in its new group vision "We aspire to be the global steel industry benchmark for Value creation and Corporate Social Responsibility".

The objective of launching channel finance - a short term revolving credit facility in Tata Steel was 100 percent cash sales to the distributors. This has successfully materialized with transactions growing from Rs.760 crores in Fy04 to Rs.2,450 crores in Fy08. The scheme has been rolled out to more than 140 Distributors based on their risk profile & has benefited Tata Steel in many ways viz.

• 100% secured receivables
• 100% timely payment
• Increased buying power of the distributors
• Faster inventory turnover for the company due to complete automation i.e. fully automated process from SO to MR generation
• Distributors under channel finance scheme meeting Tata Steel's sales target (min 75%) are recognized and rewarded
• Valued MIS reports are provided on 24x7x365
• Online complaint handling system to reduce turn around time for resolving distributor complaints
• Auto SMS alert system with complete Delivery Order information & Transaction Confirmation which is transmitted to distributors on a 24x7x365 basis.
• The needs of the distributors are addressed through various contact program covering all the regions of the country