According to a senior executive, for expanding the steel operations, Arcelor Mittal and Nippon Steel Corp. is planning to invest about ₹1 trillion over 10 years in India through their joint venture.

ArcelorMittal acquired Essar Steel India Ltd in December 2019 for ₹42,000 crore in one of the largest stressed-asset deals in the country. It then tied up with Nippon Steel, the world’s third-largest steel producer.

“The expansion plans are progressing well. In Hazira, we plan to take the capacity to 18 million tonnes (mt). And in Odisha, we are looking at setting up an additional 12 mt between Paradeep and Kendrapara. Wherever we can get the clearances earlier, we will start the process of building an integrated steel plant," Dilip Oommen, chief executive of AMNS India, said as quoted by Livemint.

The company has signed an initial pact with the Odisha government to build a 12 mt steel mill.

“We are investing upwards of ₹50,000 crore in Hazira and a similar figure in Odisha. All these investments will indeed support India’s ambition of growing the national steelmaking capacity to 300 mt," Oommen said.

Steel demand in the country is set to increase amid a massive push by the government to build infrastructure, including new roads, airports and railway stations. Renewable energy is a key component of the company’s power portfolio in its bid to produce greener steel.

Oommen said AMNS India reduced its CO2 emissions per tonne by 35% since 2015.

“We will continue to work hard and draw on the best of technologies that are available in the world to further improve in this."

“The investment for steel expansion in Hazira will be dependent on the logistics. We have two jetties right now, which we aim to upgrade and modernize to support the port logistics. For Odisha, we are looking at building our own jetties. We are building one in Paradeep and one in Kendrapara," Oommen said.

“But at the same time, we are participating in the auctions to ensure that we further securitize our raw material but obviously, taking the mines at the right price and not at a premium. We have seen that in the past, there are merchant miners and others who have taken mines and found it difficult to run operations because of the high premium," he said.

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