Author Name: MP Rana

The meltdown in global economy might linger the steel giant ArcelorMittal’s plans for setting up a couple of Greenfield steel projects worth around Rs 80,000 crore in India, a top exec from the group said. Addressing the International Metal Conference, Vijay Bhatnagar, CEO ArcelorMittal India, said in a statement, “If demand for steel continues to be down for two years, the pace of our proposed projects is likely to slow”.

ArcelorMittal Steel Co. will be setting up steel plants with integrated capacity of 12 million tonnes in Orissa and Jharkhand, for which the company’s chief L N Mittal had penned memoranda of understanding with the respective state governments, around three years back. Earlier, the company avowed that its Jharkhand plant would start steel production by 2012, but it may get delayed due to declining demand of steel in international markets.

When asked about which of the plants would become operative first, Mr Bhatnagar replied by saying that the company is in the state of ambiguity, as in Jharkhand it has the essential iron ore mines, but didn’t get the land areas yet, and the situation is justv other way round in Orissa. He further stated that the company is facing resistance from the locals in both states, and showed confidence of resolving the matter through dialogue.