Jindal to invest Rs 1.2 lakh cr in Orissa by 2020

Announcing investment of Rs 1,20,000 crore for various projects in Orissa by 2020, the Jindal group today said the capacity of their steel plant at Angul would be raised from 6 million tonne per annum to 20 million tonne per annum.

"We are investing in a big way in Orissa and the volume of investment in different projects will touch Rs 1,20,000 crore by the year 2020," Naveen Jindal, vice chairman and managing director of Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), told reporters here.

A lion's share of the investment would be made in the proposed coal-to-liquid (CTL) project for which Rs 60,000 crore would be pumped in, Jindal said after a meeting with Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here.

He said the ambitious CTL project would involve production of diesel and petrol to meet strategic requirements of the country.

Stating that JSPL's 6 million tonne per annum steel plant is being set up in Angul smoothly with local support, Jindal said its capacity would be raised to 20 million tonne by the year 2020 to make it the country's highest capacity steel unit in a single location.

While JSPL's power unit was already functioning at Angul, its steel plate mill would be operational by August this year which would manufacture five-metre-wide steel plates, the country's widest.

The JSPL managing director said he had assured Orissa government that the company would provide maximum employment in its projects to the local people.

Besides setting up a medical college, the company would establish a vocational training institute and a power training institute in Angul, Jindal said adding that a medical college would start in five years.

In addition, there would be an industrial park where a large number of small units would come up with potential to generate 20,000 to 25,000 employment, he said asserting that his company was keen to become a partner in Orissa's development and growth.