ArcelorMittal-SAIL plant project report to be ready by August

Post DPR, the process of formalising JV structure, assessing options for plant site and project costs could take two years

A detailed project report (DPR) on the proposed Rs 5,000-crore steel plant to be set up under a joint Venture (JV) between ArcelorMittal and state-run SAIL will be completed by August.

Last month, the world's largest steel-maker and domestic steel giant inked a pact to jointly set up a steel plant in India to cater to the fast growing automotive sector.

"The work on DPR has started and it will be ready by August. SAIL as well as ArcelorMittal want the project to start as soon as possible," a source said.

Post DPR, the whole process -- which includes formalising JV structure, assessing options for plant locations, project costs, etc -- could take about two years, the source added.

Earlier this month in an investor presentation, NRI billionaire Lakshmi Mittal-led company said the proposed steel plant will come up at a major auto cluster in India.

India has four major auto clusters -- Pune-Chakan belt in Maharashtra, in the outskirts of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Sanad in Gujarat and the Gurgaon-Neemrana belt spread across Haryana and Rajasthan.

ArcelorMittal said India is projected to become the fourth largest automobile manufacturing nation by 2020, growing from 3.5 million units to over 7 million units.

The country is expected to grow as a hub for automobile export manufacturing facilities to cater to the international market and establishing automotive focused production presence in India is a natural progression in executing the firms's global automotive strategy, it had said.

According to a source, the plant size could be up to 1.5 million tonnes (MT) and the investment may be in the range of $850 million (about Rs 5,000 crore).

The move is considered to be a big one for ArcelorMittal, which is trying to enter India after failing for a decade to set up plants at Odisha and Jharkhand. Its work on the USD 6.5 billion Karnataka plant is yet to take off.