Tata Steel arranges $6.6 bln loan

Indian steelmaking giant Tata Steel has arranged a $6.6 billion loan from a banking consortium to fund construction of a factory in eastern India, Dow Jones Newswires said on Monday. India's largest commercial bank, State Bank of India and private ICICI Bank are part of the consortium, Dow Jones said, quoting an unnamed official. A Tata Steel spokesman, when contacted by AFP, declined to comment on the report. The reported 350 billion rupee ($6.6 billion) loan comes as fundraising for infrastructure projects has slowed, with banks hesitant to provide money to companies amid delayed project approvals and a tougher economic climate. In August Tata Steel announced an 89 percent slump in first-quarter net profit from a year earlier, due to falling demand in its key European market. Steelmakers globally have been suffering from a slowdown in demand as industrial growth loses pace in emerging economies such as India and China and expansion remains sluggish in advanced western economies. Tata Steel, part of the sprawling Tata Group conglomerate, became one of the world's biggest steelmakers after buying Anglo-Dutch company Corus for $13.7 billion in 2007. But its debt has ballooned to $9.3 billion since its expansion. Tata Steel has a factory in India's eastern town of Jamshedpur with a capacity to produce 10 million metric tons annually.