JSW Steel has decided to put on hold its plan to set up a 10 million tonnes steel plant in West Bengal as it has not been able to secure long-term iron ore supplies for the Rs 35,000-crore project. It is working with the Centre and the State Government to secure an iron ore mining lease. The West Bengal project of JSW, first announced in 2007 has been getting delayed for various reasons.
The entity is also not thinking over on any new project, including the ones in West Bengal, without securing either a long-term iron ore supply agreement or a captive iron ore mine due to its experience in Karnataka. It runs a 10 million tonnes (MT) steel plant in Karnataka but it neither has a captive mine nor a long-term iron ore supply agreement and has to source the ore from open market.
