SPS offloads 50% stake in Orissa project

Kolkata-based CONCAST group has picked up a 50 per cent stake in SPS group’s Jharsuguda steel project in Orissa. The Jharsuguda steel project is under SPS Steel & Power. Bipin Vohra, chairman and managing director, SPS group said, the company raised Rs 200 crore from the stake sale.

The project has a capacity of 0.54 million tonne, which will be raised to one million tonne.

The group has 115 acres in Orissa and the total land requirement is 400 acres.

At present the total steelmaking capacity is more than 1.5 million tonnes in TMT bars, angles and channels, which will be increased to more than two million tonnes by December.

The economic meltdown had hit the expansion plans of the SPS group.

Vohra said, the demand would pick up if major infrastructure projects were announced in the budget.

He also mentioned that cheap imports were hurting the domestic producers and the import duty should be increased.