ArcelorMittal Nippon to set up $13b steel plant in Odisha

ARCELORMITTAL Nippon Steel India Ltd has got approval from the eastern Indian state of Odisha to set up a steel plant worth $13 billion (£9.8 billion), a doubling of investment and capacity from an initial proposal in March, Bloomberg reported.

The complex in Kendrapara in eastern Odisha will produce steel using the latest green steel-making technology besides making high value-added downstream products, the state government’s investment promotion body said in a statement following a meeting chaired by state chief minister Naveen Patnaik.

Naveen Patnaik, the chief minister of the Indian state of Odisha. (Photo by DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP via Getty Images)

The project will be completed in phases in seven years, it said, the report added.

In March, the chief minister tweeted that ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel had signed an agreement to set up a $12 million (£9 million) ton-a-year steel plant in the state at an investment of Rs 500 billion (£4.9 billion).

The facility will also produce 18.75 million tonnes of cement in a year, the statement added.

ArcelorMittal had earlier tried to build a steel plant in the state more than 10 years ago but dumped the plan in 2013 due to its failure to get land and necessary permits to mine iron ore, a key raw material.