Jharkhand eyes $25 billion investment in steel sector

**SLASH** · 05 Jul 06,, 16:20

Jharkhand eyes $25 billion investment in steel sector

Mumbai, Reuters:

Among the companies that are flocking the State include Jindal Iron and Steel Ltd., Essar Steel Ltd., Monnet Ispat Ltd. and Sunflag Iron & Steel Co. Ltd.

India’s mineral-rich state of Jharkhand expects to draw more than $25 billion in investments from firms including Mittal Steel Co. to build new steel and copper plants, a top government official said.

Metal companies are flocking to Jharkhand, a poor state in the country’s east, in order to tap into its huge iron ore, copper and coal deposits.

Steel firms view India as an ideal place to invest because of its mineral wealth and affordable labour. Asia’s fourth-largest economy, like China, has also emerged as a metal consumer in its own right as its economy looks set to grow 7 per cent this year.

"We have firm investment proposals worth 78,000 crore ($18 billion) and there are more proposals under discussion,” A K Singh, secretary of the department of mines and geology in Jharkhand, told Reuters by phone from the state’s capital Ranchi.

Steel companies such as Jindal Iron and Steel Ltd., Essar Steel Ltd., Monnet Ispat Ltd. and Sunflag Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. have already made initial commitments to the state government.

Mittal Steel, the world’s largest steel maker, has completed an appraisal of the state’s potential for setting up a manufacturing base and was expected to sign a deal with the Jharkhand government in the next two months, Singh said.

Mittal Steel said this week it was in talks with Jharkhand about building a steel mill and iron ore mine, but denied media reports of plans to spend $6 billion on a 10-million-tonne plant. “After the visit to the state, Mittal Steel’s officials were very confident of finalising a deal. Similarly, we too are confident they would decide to invest in Jharkhand,” Singh said in the interview.

In good company

Proven iron ore reserves in Jharkhand are estimated at 3.7 billion tonnes, a quarter of India’s total, and the state has 40 per cent of India’s 91 billion tonnes of proven coal reserves.

“The rush to invest in Jharkhand is purely led by the huge potential the state offers. The ball is in our court now and we don’t want to miss this opportunity,” Singh said.

The state is already home to India’s biggest private sector steel plant, owned by Tata Steel Ltd., which plans to expand its capacity to 7.8 million tonnes by 2008, as it seeks to quadruple its steel capacity to 15 million tonnes by 2010.

Steel minster Ram Vilas Paswan said on Thursday state-run steel firms would aim to increase annual output by 10 per cent. The sector needs $23 billion in investment over the next five years to meet annual consumption growth of 7 per cent. India produced about 39 million tonnes of steel in the year to March 31, 2005, making it the eighth-largest producer in the world.

With per capita steel consumption set to rise from just 30 kg per person, compared with 180 kg in China, South Korea’s POSCO Ltd. is set to ink a deal to build a $12 billion steel complex in Orissa.

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**Akshay** · 05 Jul 06,, 19:33

Are you trying to steal my thunder? It was my news for India Infrastructure thread. grrrrrrrr

lol!!!!!!! anyway jokes apart.. good for Jharkhand. If the states of Orissa & Jharkhand can turn over and create an industrial base then it would indeed be a great asset in Indian economy.

**santosh tiwari** · 06 Jul 06,, 06:31

Originally Posted by ab041937

Are you trying to steal my thunder? It was my news for India Infrastructure thread. grrrrrrrr

lol!!!!!!! anyway jokes apart.. good for Jharkhand. If the states of Orissa & Jharkhand can turn over and create an industrial base then it would indeed be a great asset in Indian economy.

this is too early to invest so much money in steel sector. china has about two times reserve to that of india but they still importing steel from other countries while indian steel companies dont have enough customers in india also and they export steel to other countries and even to china also. with growing economy, demand of steel in india is likely to increase from current 30kg per head to about 60kg per head till 2011-2012. and that will be the right time to invest so much money in steel sector. this much investment in steel sector can just increase production which will cause export of steel to other countries. Like if we do simple calculation, india required 30kg steel per head which comes around 33million ton per year (for total population 1.1billion) and production about 39million ton for the year ending march2006. like if we consider 7% annual consumption growth, it comes about 66millionton demand by 2014-2016. while if we have a look on the world market of steel, its price increased by about 3 times in last 3-4 years. that will be the worse case when india will require 200-300kg steel per head from 2020 and for that india will have to import steel from other countries on higher price.

one of the main source of steel production is thru recycling. when enough steel will be available in market, it can help production thru recycling. government would wait for atleast 7-8 years more until right time come for this much investment in this sector.