Marking its maiden venture in India, Mittal Steel Company on Saturday signed an MoU with the Jharkhand government, committing to invest Rs 40,000 crore to enter mining and steel making operations in the state.
The MoU includes setting up of a 12 million tonne greenfield steel plant.
Mittal Steel chairman Laxmi Niwas Mittal said the project would be developed in two phases of six million tonnes each with the first phase expected to be completed within 48 months of the agreement of the detailed project report and the second within further 54 months after completion of phase one.
The steel baron also signed two additional MoUs committing to work closely with the mineral-rich state to achieve improvement in technical skills and education to sustain the pace of industrialisation in the state.
The company would also study the possibility of setting up of a 2,500 mw power plant and a township for its employees as part of the project. Mittal, however, would not commit the amount to be invested in the power plant.
Once the detailed project report was completed and found acceptable both to Mittal Steel and Jharkhand government definite agreements would be entered into.
On a query as to why his company's proposal for iron ore export had been dropped, the 54-year-old Rotterdam-based industrialist said, "First of all we did not know the available iron ore in Jharkhand was suitable for 100 percent consumption but after discussions, we feel there is no need for import or export of iron ore available in Jharkhand."
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