ArcelorMittal rejigs India plans; opts for smaller plants

Global steel giant ArcelorMittal has squeezed the size of its Jharkhand project in order to reduce the time lag to the minimum. The company now hopes to start construction of the project by the beginning or the first half of the next financial year (2011-12).

The company expects to complete acquisition of minimum land required for the Jharkhand plant by the end of the current financial year so that construction can start next year.

"By December-end we will have up to 1,000 acres and by the end of the first quarter of the next calendar year, the entire 2,500 acres should be in possession, immediately after which construction can start," said a company source.

ArcelorMittal has reviewed its India plans as a whole and would now build smaller steel plants, instead of the mega projects proposed earlier. Accordingly, it would build smaller plants in Orissa, Jharkhand and Karnataka and scale up capacity as and when demand increases.

Agency reports quoting ArcelorMittal CFO Aditya Mittal said smaller plants would take less time while a number of units across various states would give the company a larger footprint.

He, however, said the company was committed to expanding the capacities of the steel plants later as stated in the memoranda of understanding with the respective state governments.
ArcelorMittal had earlier proposed to set up steel plants of 12 million tonne annual capacity each in Orissa and Jharkhand and a six million tonne plant in Karnataka.