'Not much scope for unlocking value if too many taxes are added'

Tata Steel and the United Kingdom's (UK's) newly elected Labour government are in discussion on grants to fund the transition to greener steel and are exploring a viable business case beyond what was agreed upon with the Conservative government. In a video interview with Ishita Ayan Dutt, TV NARENDRAN, managing director and chief executive officer, Tata Steel, discusses issues from the UK strategy to the potential impact of the recent Supreme Court ruling on mineral tax.

Dutch operations are back to normal, but Ebitda (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation, and amortisation) losses in the UK continue. What is the outlook on Europe?

Operations in the Netherlands will continue to stabilise and get better operationally. We were operating almost at a 6.8 million tonne (mt) annual production level in the first quarter. The aim is to take it to 7 mt.

Also, a lot of initiatives are going on to take out costs so that we get operations in the Netherlands back to where they belong.

Typically, they are at the top of the table in the European steel industry. In the UK, after the losses in Q1 and Q2, we will see a better situation because all the heavy-end assets will have been closed by the end of September. So, H2 should be better than H1 for Tata Steel Europe.

Tata Steel had earlier said the transition could potentially impact 2,800 jobs in the UK. With the Labour government aiming to secure "job guarantees", can that number come down?