Ofbusiness, a B2B commerce and fintech startup, is looking to invest about Rs 3,000 crore into doubling its steel business to more than 4MTPA in the next three years.

The company has acquired three steel firms — SMW Ispat, Shree Sidhbali Ispat and Noble Steel — in the past and the expansion is lined up in all the three companies.

“We are looking forward to investing close to $350 million, about Rs 3,000 crore, to scale up our steel business from the current 2 million tonne to more than 4 million tonne in the next 3 years. This is also expected to sharply increase the sector EBITDA to 2.5x from the current level. The funding will be a combination of internal accruals and debt & equity financing,” Co-Founder and CEO Asish Mohapatra said.

The company supplies steel to companies such as L&T, Adani, J Kumar, Dilip Buildcon, Ashoka Buildcon.

OfBusiness also plans to get into new categories such as pre-painted galvanised iron (PPGI) adding onto thermo-mechanically treated (TMT) bars and structures.

The company is also planning a $1 billion IPO in FY26.

“We have been continuously thriving for expansion of our business and be part of India’s tremendous growth journey of $10 trillion economy. To support our expansion plans we are looking forward to our $1 billion IPO in FY2026,” Mohapatra said.

OfBusiness has been into the business of steel, non-ferrous metals, bitumen, food products, as well as finished goods such as apparel and footwear, supplying them to its domestic and international clients.

Last year, OfBusiness delivered about 170,000 shipments across the country, enabling about 13,000 businesses to grow and thrive.

Launched in 2014, PhotoSparks is a weekly feature from YourStory, with photographs that celebrate the spirit of creativity and innovation. In the earlier 830 posts, we featured an art festival, cartoon gallery. world music festival, telecom expo, millets fair, climate change expo, wildlife conference, startup festival, Diwali rangoli, and jazz festival.

With 19 galleries and a crafts courtyard, Bengaluru’s Karnataka Chitrakala Parishath is a popular hub for arts and culture in the city. One of its spectacular annual activities is Chitra Santhe, regarded as one of India’s largest street celebrations of art.

The fair is held on the first Sunday of January each year, kicking off the arts calendar in style. Last year’s edition was dedicated to the achievements of Indian scientists in space research and related activities (see our coverage of the previous ten editions of Chitra Santhe here, from 2015 onwards).

In this photo essay, we showcase the diverse artworks from creators across the country. We follow up in forthcoming articles with artist insights on creativity, festival impact on artists and audiences, and their future initiatives.

The theme of Chitra Santhe 2025 is Protecting Women: A Shared Responsibility, addressing the rights of women and girls. The aim is to raise awareness about pressing social issues such as child marriage and female foeticide.

More than 1,500 artists from 22 states across India are participating this year. The entire stretch of Kumara Krupa Road is closed to traffic for the day, with artist displays featured on both sides of the main road and adjacent alleys.

Parking concerns are reduced thanks to feeder buses operated by BMTC from key metro stations. There is also provision for an online gallery with ten artworks per exhibitor, bringing the creative showcase to a larger audience outside Karnataka.

The 2024 edition reportedly drew over three lakh viewers to see and buy artworks. The fair also features live caricatures, face painting, dance performances, and plays.

It is encouraging to see the works of established as well as emerging artists, including students at the festival. The youthful volunteers also did a commendable job of helping run the event.

In this photo essay, we feature some of the diverse artworks on display, which include glass paintings, oil, watercolour, acrylic, collages, and lithographs. There are also doodles, sculptures, installations, mixed media, photography, and even upcycled works made from discarded materials.

Now what have you done today to pause in your busy schedule and harness your creative side for a better world?

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(All photographs were taken by Madanmohan Rao on location at Chitra Santhe.)

The government will launch another round of production-linked incentive scheme for the steel sector on Monday.

The ‘PLI scheme 1.1’ will be launched by the steel minister H D Kumaraswamy.

“Union Minister of Steel and Heavy Industries…will launch ‘PLI scheme 1.1’ for the steel industry and call for applications…on January 6,” the steel ministry said in a statement.

To encourage domestic production of specialty steel and lower imports by drawing in capital investments, the government had earlier introduced the PLI scheme for specialty steel.

The scheme has attracted investments worth Rs 27,106 crore, envisaging creation of 14,760 direct employment opportunities with an estimated production of 7.90 million tonnes of specialty steel.

As of November 2024, companies have already invested Rs 18,300 crore and generated over 8,660 in employment.

The government has been interacting regularly with the participating companies and based on feedback, it was felt that there was a scope to notify the scheme again to attract more participation, the statement said.

The concept of Production-Linked Incentives (PLI) was conceived during the Covid-induced global lockdowns of 2020, emphasising the need to boost domestic manufacturing.

Initially launched for three sectors, the PLI scheme was later extended to include steel in November 2020.

The government had earlier said that it is working on another round of the PLI scheme for speciality steel as the response for the first round of the initiative did not meet expectations.

Speciality steel is still one area where more is needed to be done. The government brought a PLI to incentivise the manufacturing of speciality steel but the offtake of the sops was not as expected, the government had earlier said.

Speciality steel is a high-grade product used in sectors like defence, automobile, and electrical, among others.