India’s top steelmaker, Tata Steel Ltd has signed a memorandum of understanding with Hindustan Zinc to procure the company’s complete domestic zinc requirements, a move towards achieving Aatmanirbhar Bharat, the company said.

“This initiative would bolster the idea of Aatmanirbhar Bharat with one of the largest companies choosing to become vocal for local. Under this MoU, Hindustan Zinc will cater to both Tata Steel & Tata Steel BSL supplying a quantity of around 45KT of zinc and other value-added metals” said the company in a statement.

Hindustan Zinc has implemented a service called vendor management inventory (VMI) solution and Tata Steel will be the first customer to try this unique solution.

“As a first VMI customer, Tata Steel's inventory and stock will be closely monitored. Upon sensing a shortage on a real time basis, the material shall be delivered on impromptu basis from Hindustan Zinc warehouses with no risk to operation,” the company said in a media statement.

Hindustan Zinc will also keep safety stock at all their depots across India for Tata Group Companies, the statement added.

“While Global technical experts deliver curated technical services for productivity and quality improvement, Vendor Managed Inventory will ensure significantly lower inventory costs across Tata Steel units.