ArcelorMittal holding talks with bankers for helping farmers

ArcelorMittal is in talks with bankers to evolve a mechanism to provide appropriate investment advice to the farmers and local people whose lands would be acquired for its two greenfield integrated steel plants in Orissa and Jharkhand.     

The move is aimed at ensuring that these people, who have never handled large sums, do not get misguided by unscrupulous elements and end up losing their money.     

The objective is to figure out ways for these people, having very little or no education and financial knowledge, get the highest possible return through safest possible investment, according to Vijay Bhatnagar, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of ArcelorMittal India.      

ArcelorMittal is in talks with the bankers to evolve a an appropriate model so that some sort of a regular periodical income was assured to the farmers, he said.

"But we are very clear that thse investments would not be made in our company as that could again end up sending out wrong signals", he said.     

Public hearings for land acquisition for the Arcelormittal project will begin later this month and the company hopes to do the ground breaking in the first half of 2009.