Union Minister of Steel and Mines, Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the government is planning setting up four steel plants in Jharkhand, Karnataka, Odisha and Chhatisgarh, in order to meet the rising demand for steel.
These plants which will have combined capacity of 20-24 million tonne will be implemented via separate SPVs and the respective state government will partner in the projects. The minister back in the month of February had stated that based on investment of Rs 6,000 crore for each million tonne of steel and associated cost for mining, the total investment will be in excess of Rs 1,50,000 crore.
According to the minister, the plan for new capacity has been made to boost the Make in India focus and take steel capacity of the country to 300 million tonne by 2025 from 80 odd million tonne at present.
In a related development, the Union Minister also informed that Indian Iron & Steel Company (IISCO) plant's expansion cost had overshot to Rs 16,000 crore from the estimated Rs 10,000 crore nine years ago. This expanded plant will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.