ArcellorMittal, SAIL to set up Rs 5000 crore steel plant in Odisha

Global steel major ArcelorMittal is all set to finalise a joint venture agreement with the state-run Steel Authority of India (SAIL) for setting up a Rs 5,000 crore steel plant at Rourkela in Odisha to produce high-end products for the country’s growing automotive sector.

The proposed USD 1 billion JV between global steel giant ArcelorMittal and India’s largest producer of the metal SAIL will be finalised by December, Steel Minister Chaudhary Birendra Singh said today.

Singh met ArcelorMittal Chairman Lakshmi Mittal in London last month and discussed the JV, which aims at setting up an automotive steel plant in India.

The world’s largest steelmaker and India’s largest steel PSU had on May 22 last year signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for setting up the facility at Rourkela in Odisha.

Although the companies have not announced the size of the plant, sources had earlier said it could be a 1.2-million-tonne unit.

The proposed JV will construct world-class facilities for manufacturing automotive steel that will offer technologically advanced steel products for India’s rapidly growing automotive sector.

The hot rolled input products for the proposed facility will be supplied by SAIL’s new hot strip mill in Rourkela, Odisha, thus making the entire value chain indigenous.

The ‘Maharatna’ firm does not produce automotive steel and the JV will help it expand its product portfolio.

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