Jindal Steel and the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to establish a Centre of Excellence (CoE) focused on high-strength, value-added and value-engineered steel products and solutions at the IIT Hyderabad campus.

The Centre will focus on developing and demonstrating advanced steel applications for infrastructure, engineering, construction and strategic industrial sectors. The initiative will bring together IITH’s technical and research capabilities with Jindal Steel’s manufacturing, metallurgical and engineering expertise.

The Centre will explore applications of advanced steel grades in buildings and bridges, penstocks and large-diameter pipes, defence, heavy equipment, power plants, refineries, transportation, heavy engineering and other industrial sectors.

A key objective will be to support the wider adoption of high-strength and value-engineered steels by demonstrating their potential to reduce material consumption and structural weight, improve durability, enable faster project execution and enhance lifecycle economics.

The Centre will serve as a hub for application development, technical demonstrations, training, industry engagement and knowledge sharing. It will work with designers, consultants, engineers, fabricators, engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies, equipment manufacturers and project developers to identify suitable applications and support the technical evaluation of advanced steel solutions.

Prof. B S Murty, Director, IIT Hyderabad, said the Centre would strengthen the institute’s role in promoting advanced steel solutions across India’s engineering, infrastructure and industrial sectors. He added that the initiative would provide faculty and students opportunities to work with industry on real-world applications and explore how advanced steels can contribute to efficiency, performance and sustainability.

V R Sharma, Managing Director, Jindal Steel, said the partnership would help expand the use of high-strength and value-engineered steel across infrastructure and industrial applications. He highlighted the combination of IITH’s technical capabilities and Jindal Steel’s manufacturing and engineering expertise as a key element of the initiative. The collaboration will include application development programmes, workshops, symposia, industry-academia training and demonstration projects. It will also provide opportunities for student internships and placements, academic modules and other industry engagement initiatives.

The Centre is expected to engage with industry stakeholders, government agencies and end users to facilitate technical assessment and support the adoption of advanced steel solutions across varioussectors.