Lalitanjali Group to set up Rs 650 cr steel park in Vizag

The company will invest Rs 100 cr in acquiring over 100 acre, and the remaining will be spent on expansion and creation of facilities

Hyderabad-headquartered Lalitanjali Group, focused on strategies, industry entry planning, market research and raw material sources, is planning to set up what it claims to be the country’s first steel industrial park in Visakhapatnam with an investment of Rs 650 crore, according to chief executive officer Rahul Rao.

“About Rs 100 crore will be invested in acquiring over 100 acre, and the process is already under way. The remaining will be spent on expansion and creation of facilities. While we have managed to raise funds through private finance options based on collaterals to certain extent, we are in talks with public sector banks for long-term association as they have a major role to play in pre and post-operations,” he told Business Standard.

The proposed industrial park will house 15 to 20 ancillary units guided by a pilot company, and facilities like an effluent treatment plant, water treatment plant, guest house, labour quarters, educational institute to offer a special diploma in steel industry, truck and container terminals, raw material storage, an end-product storage house, flyash brick manufacturing internal material handling logistics, police station and a hospital.

According to Rao, the company plans to commence work on the project from July after the land acquisition and statutory processes are in place, and plans are to shape up the industrial park within 30 months from then.

“The Phase-I production capacity of the park will be approximately one million tonne a year, to start with. Lalitanjali will have its trading division fully operational from the park, for import and export of raw material and semi-finished steel products,” he said, adding the ancillaries in the park would produce carbon alloy steels, ball-bearing steels, casting products, rolled and other special steels that would cater to the requirements of the pilot company.

Stating that the landing costs of raw material from other countries is cheaper by $5-$6 in Vizag compared with other states and that the city had significant geographical advantages because of the presence of two major ports and its strategic location closer to the South Asian markets, Rao said it was for this reason they had received interest from over 20 companies to establish their base here.