JSPL to have 14 mn tonne capacity by 2015

Plans to invest Rs 23,000 cr in next 3 yrs to increase capacity

Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL) is planning to invest Rs 23,000 crore in next three years to increase its steel making capacity to 14 million tonne, a top company official said.

"We will invest a total of Rs 23,000 crore till the end of 2015. Out of this, we plan to raise Rs 12,000 crore debt, while rest will be funded from internal accruals," JSPL Deputy Managing Director and CEO-Steel Business V R Sharma told reporters here.

Of this, about Rs 14,000 crore will be invested on JSPL's upcoming 6 million tonne (MT) steel plant here. The company has plans to commission the first phase of the plant, having 1.8 MT capacity, in the next quarter, while rest of the units will get operational by 2015.

Besides, JSPL will be utilising about Rs 9,000 crore on its another greenfield venture, having 3 MT capacity, in Jharkhand's Patratu and on expanding its Oman plant by another 2 MT, Sharma said.

Currently, the Naveen Jindal-led steelmaker has 3 MT production capacity at its Raigarh plant in Chhattisgarh. It also runs a 2 MT plate mill here at Angul and has a wire rod mill and a bar mill at Patratu, Jharkhand.

The company has set an ambitious growth plan to have 20 MTPA steel making capacity by 2020 and has been on a buying spree in recent times to secure raw material linkages for its upcoming plants.

Recently, it put out a bid for acquiring Gujarat NRE Coke's coking coal producing Australian subsidiary. Besides, it has also raised its stake in Australian iron ore mining firm Apollo Minerals, while it had acquired Canada's CIC Energy last year.

Currently, the company has iron ore and coal mines in Mozambique, Australia, Indonesia and Botswana among others.