Vedanta To Set Up 4.5 Million Tonne Steel Plant In Jharkhand

Vedanta Ltd. on Tuesday said it will set up a new steel plant in Jharkhand with a capacity of 4.5 million tonne per annum by investing $3-4 billion.

The plant will be part of the company’s newly-acquired Electrosteel Steels Ltd. at Bokaro, Vedanta Resources Chairman Anil Agarwal told reporters in Kolkata. “This would be a new steel plant under ESL and in the same location at Bokaro,” Agarwal said. “So it’s a brownfield investment per se.”

Vedanta would initially invest about $300 million to augment capacity of to 2.5 million tonne from the existing 1.5 million tonne. Once the new facility is commissioned, the total capacity of Electrosteel Steels would be around 7 million tonne, he said without elaborating on the time frame.

The plant would create 1,20,000 jobs in the form of direct and indirect employment, Agarwal said. “We have about 2,200 acres at ESL and are scouting for a little more...The Jharkhand government has been very cooperative in this regard.”

In March, Vedanta was declared as the successful resolution applicant for the steelmaker under the corporate insolvency resolution process. The company has acquired control of Electrosteel Steels and a new board of directors has been appointed.