AM/NS India inks pact with Odisha for ~50K-crore plant

Arcelormittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) and the Odisha government signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Thursday for setting up a 12 million tonne integrated steel plant.

Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in a tweet said that the Odisha government had signed an MOU with AM/NS India for a 12 million tonne per annum (mtpa) integrated steel plant in Kendrapara district, with an investment of ~50,000 crore, giving a major boost to “Invest in Odisha”.

The MOU was signed by Hemant Sharma, principal secretary (industries) and Dilip Oommen, chief executive officer (CEO), AM/NS India, in the presence of Patnaik and Arcelormittal Executive Chairman L N Mittal.

Mittal, who is on a visit to India, had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan before the Odisha visit, along with son and Arcelormittal CEO Aditya Mittal.

L N Mittal will also be meeting Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani as well. Commenting on the MOU, Mittal said that he was happy to partner with the Odisha government in setting up the integrated steel complex in Kendrapara.

AM/NS India’s investments in Odisha include the 6 mtpa pelletization plant in Paradeep, which will be expanded to 12 mtpa and the beneficiation complex in Keonjhar and slurry pipeline, that are already operational.

The MOU for the Odisha plant comes shortly after AM/NS India completed a year of operations. In December 2019, Arcelormittal and Nippon Steel jointly acquired Essar Steel in a ~42,000-crore deal under the insolvency law.

That had paved the way for Arcelormittal’s major entry into India, after years of trying to set up greenfield projects.

In 2006, Arcelormittal had signed an MOU for a 12 million tonne plant in Odisha. However, it did not materialise and the company pulled out in 2013 after a long wait. In 2005, Arcelor had also signed an MOU in Jharkhand for a 12 million tonne, but that didn’t take off either. Neither did a six-million tonne plant in Karnataka, for which the steel major had signed an MOU in 2010.

Now, a fresh attempt at greenfield project is being made by AM/NS India.