The homecoming of Lakshmi Mittal: A story of long waiting periods

The Supreme Court cleared the decks for ArcelorMittal’s acquisition of Essar Steel on Friday by bringing closure to a corporate insolvency resolution process that has stretched for more than 835 days. Mapped against the waiting period of over a decade to enter India, 835 days could pass off as a fragment of time.

Lakshmi Mittal’s first attempt to bring home ArcelorMittal was in 2005. Amid much fanfare, the company signed a deal with Jharkhand chief secretary P P Sharma for a 12 mt steel plant at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. But even a year later, nothing moved —