Steel pipe maker Jindal SAW India expects orders worth up to USD 300 million (about Rs 1,985 crore) in the last quarter this fiscal.

The flagship firm of the USD 18-billion OP Jindal Group has an order book of about $1 billion at present.

"Our order book at present is close to $1 billion and in January-March quarter this fiscal we expect to get orders worth $200-300 million," Jindal SAW Group CEO Neeraj Kumar told reporters here.

The company expects to secure large orders from state-run gas utility GAIL.

When asked about the current demand scenario in Oil & Gas sector, Kumar said: "Investment in pipelines for oil sector would definitely get deferred because of the low prices. When it comes to gas, it depends on discovery that you make because in gas evacuation by pipe is necessary...

"So there is going to be an impact for sure, but is it all gloom and doom, the answer is no. In fact, one or two orders are likely to come from GAIL, which will be large orders in India." On order quantity, he said: "That's about a lakh tonne."

At present the water sector -- irrigation and drinking -- is contributing the most to company's order book, close to 60 per cent which includes both ductile iron (DI) and mild steel (MI) pipes, he added. Every year revenue contribution keeps changing, but broadly no sector contributes less than 15 per cent and more than 30 per cent, Kumar said.

The firm serves sectors of oil & gas, water, industry and steel intermediatory or steel input. Jindal SAW has also secured a major chunk of a pipeline order for the Telangana Water Grid project. Spread over three years, the project is for providing about 10 lakh tonnes (both DI and MS pipe) of pipe and is worth about Rs 20,000 crore.

In the July-September quarter, Jindal SAW produced pipes and pig iron of around 220,000 tonnes against 230,000 tonnes in the year-ago period. Pellet production stood at around 263,000 tonnes as compared to 309,000 tonnes during the same period. India accounted for 89 per cent of total sales of the firm with remaining 11 per cent coming from overseas markets.

The order book for pipes and pellets of the firm stood at around $800 million, with Large Diameter Pipes accounting for a lions share followed by Ductile Iron Pipes, Seamless Pipes & others and Pellets as of September 2015. The company has a pipe making capacity of 15-16 lakh tonnes.