Tata Sponge, which has its manufacturing facility at Bilaipada (in Joda Block of Keonjhar District in Orissa), was initially set up as a joint venture company between Tata Steel and the Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Limited (IPICOL). It has moved on since, becoming an associate company of Tata Steel following the former?s acquisition of IPICOL?s stake in 1991.

The origins of Tata Sponge can be traced to a groundbreaking effort by Tata Steel to industrialise a backward area of Orissa. Tata Steel proposed to do this by introducing an innovative technology for making sponge iron - Tisco Direct Reduction (TDR), developed by its Research and Development Division.