JSW Group To Invest Rs 3,400 Cr In Bengal Over 2-3 Years
Impressed with Bengal’s pro-business environment: Sajjan Jindal
JSW Group will invest Rs 3,400 crore in various new and existing projects in West Bengal over the next two-three years, announced the state’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
JSW Group will invest Rs 3,400 crore in new projects besides the existing cement plant at Salboni (in West Medinipore).Sajjan Jindal, Chairman, JSW Group
The fresh investment would create 3,000 direct and indirect employment opportunities.
Laying out the entire investment roadmap, Mamata Banerjee said an additional Rs 700 crore will be used to expand the group’s existing cement plant in the state, while another Rs 200 crore will be spent to build a captive power plant. Additionally a decorative paints and downstream steel unit will also be set up with an investment of Rs 1,500 crore and Rs 1,000 crore respectively.
The JSW Group has also decided to develop a model farm as a part of its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity on 294 out of the 4,000 acres acquired by the group for a 10 million-tonne Rs 35,000 crore integrated steel plant, which is now on hold.
The Jindals had agreed to return 294 acres purchased directly from farmers for the project but after the original land owners declined to accept the land, the group has decided to develop an agricultural project on cooperative basis with the farmers being its members.
Jindal told reporters that the 2.4 million tonne cement plant will be completed by March.
"My son Parth who is looking after this project has already decided to double the capacity to 4.8 million tonne by 2018," he said.
"Project reports for other plans are underway and we expect in the next 2-3 years the new projects will get completed," Jindal said after the hour-long meeting with the chief minister.
The decorative paint plant will have a capacity of 2 lakh kilo litres per annum and the downstream steel unit will be of 0.5 million tonne.
The steel would be sourced from either Maharashtra or Karnataka.
JSW Group will be able to strengthen its Karnataka steel plant after winning iron-ore blocks put on auction recently.
Meanwhile, Jindal appreciated the peaceful environment in West Bengal and said they were very impressed with the development and business-friendly atmosphere.