Steel makers invest Rs 80,516 cr in Odisha

Steel companies that have entered into Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Odisha government have invested Rs 80,516.17 crore till March 2012, achieving a combined steel output of 12.66 million tonne per annum.

The investments have flown from the 30 steel makers that have resumed production on a partial scale as well as companies whose projects are yet to see the light of the day.

The operational steel units have also achieved captive power plant (CPP) capacity of 1,517 MW.

The MoU signed steel units going into production have generated direct employment for 24,453 people besides creating 54,850 indirect jobs. The direct employment figure of 24,453 includes 17,677 jobs for people of Odisha and 6,776 outside the state. On the indirect job creation front, of the total of 54,850 jobs, 42,712 people within the state have bagged jobs with the balance 12,138 going to outsiders.

These steel firms have paid Rs 1,462.86 crore to the state government and Rs 4,903.82 crore (as on March 31, 2012) by way of taxes. An amount of Rs 187.20 crore has also been spent by these companies on peripheral development.

Among the 30 firms that have started production, Bhushan Power & Steel Ltd is the biggest investor with an investment of Rs 22,290 crore. It has achieved steel capacity of 1.5 mtpa, sponge iron capacity of 1.5 mtpa and CPP of 116 MW at its plant at Lapanga near Sambalpur.

It is followed by Bhushan Steel Ltd that has grounded an investment of Rs 14,000 crore, clocking steel production of 4.5 mtpa and sponge iron output of 2.38 mtpa at Meramandali in Dhenkanal district. Other major steel investors include Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (Rs 11,392.98 crore), JSL Ltd (Rs 6,367 crore), Essar Steel (Rs 5,700 crore), Tata Steel (Rs 3,970 crore) and Visa Steel (Rs 2,808 crore).

Posco India and ArcelorMittal, the two big ticket investors proposing to build 12 million tonne per annum steel plant each, have invested Rs 300.08 crore and Rs 70.96 crore respectively.

The state government had signed MoUs with 50 players with a combined steelmaking capacity of 83.66 million tonnes with total investment proposal of Rs 2.3 lakh crore.