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After the pullout from Orissa, ArcelorMittal India’s requirement for people on the ground, has reduced, the company said.
A slower than anticipated progress with India projects, coupled with a weakening global demand led to the world’s largest steelmaker pulling out from Orissa last month. What, however, has raised eyebrows is the fact that Sanak Mishra, vice president ArcelorMittal and chief executive officer for greenfield projects, has quit the company.
Mishra, who has been with the company since 2006, was actively involved with the Orissa project.
Though ArcelorMittal didn’t want to comment on an individual basis about employees, a company spokesperson admitted that the requirement for the number of people on the ground in India had recently reduced. But the company maintained that it was adequately staffed to undertake the current projects.
“ArcelorMittal continues to be properly and adequately staffed and has the operational strength to undertake projects in India. What is important is that we have the right skills and leadership required and we feel confident that is appropriate at this point in time,” the spokesperson said.
Though the Orissa project has been scrapped, the company is continuing with its Jharkhand and Karnataka projects. “This does not impact our ability to continue work on our remaining projects in Jharkhand and Karnataka,” the company said in response to queries from Business Standard.
The Jharkhand and Karnataka projects were better poised than Orissa. In Karnataka, around 2,000 acres has been allotted to the company, out of the 4,865 acres promised. Mittal had signed an MoU with the government in 2010 for a six million tonne plant for an investment of Rs 30,000 crore. In Jharkhand, the company has bagged iron ore mines and has been allocated a coal block that it will be sharing with GVK Power.
The team on the ground in India was supported by ArcelorMittal’s various global teams in Europe and America, to draw on the teams’ expertise in technology, mining, research and development, logistics and the automotive sector as required. The company would continue to be led by Vijay Bhatnagar, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal India and China.
None of the projects, however, are ArcelorMittal’s immediate priorities.
