Essar Steel plans to invest Rs 1k cr

Ruias-promoted Essar Steel will invest Rs 1,000 crore in setting up steel processing units in India, the Middle East and North America, said Essar Group chairman Shashi Ruia. The company is also in the process of expanding capacity of its steel plant located in Hazira to 10 million tonne from 4.6 million tonne with investments of close to Rs 14,000 crore. The expanded capacity is likely to go on stream by June next year. Mr Ruia said India is insulated from the global turmoil to some extent as steel demand in the country is growing at 5-7%. Essar plans to set up 15-20 steel processing units to cater to specific steel requirement of auto, white goods and small & medium enterprises sector over a span of three years, he said. It has four such units in India with a combined processing capacity of 2.5 million tonne. Essar Steel has, however, put its overseas expansion plans on hold due to slump in global demand for the metal, Mr Ruia said. The company had announced to set up greenfield steel projects in Vietnam, Trinidad & Tobago and Minnesota (USA). “We will not initiate work on overseas projects till we see signs of revival in the steel demand globally,” he said while speaking to reporters after the inauguration of company’s steel service unit at Bahadurgarh (Haryana). The firm had planned a 2 million tonne hot-strip mill in Vietnam, a 2.5 mt integrated steel plant in Trinidad & Tobago and a 4.1 mt steel plant in Minnesota, US. In all these projects would have required investments of over Rs 30,000 crore. Talking about the company's steel projects in India, Essar Steel Holding CEO J Mehra said that expansion work at Hazira plant was going on full swing. “But, we are still awaiting clearances and grant of adequate iron ore linkages for the projects planned in other states,” he said. Essar Steel had signed memorandum of understanding with the respective state governments for setting up three steel plants, one each in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Orissa few years ago. All the projects have got delayed due to non availability of adequate iron ore and coal, key inputs in steel making.