Steel project in Bellary gets under way

NMDC chairman Rana Som told Deccan Herald that the public sector firm has entrusted MECON to conduct techno-economic feasibility study of the project while Severstal has assigned Hutch to conduct marketing study of the products.

NMDC and OJSC Severstal had floated a 50:50 joint venture company to set up a five million tonne steel plant in Karnataka. The company had already given Rs 55 crore to the Karnataka government for land acquisition which is to be complete by end of this year, the chairman said. 

Both firms would invest a total of Rs 9,000 crore in the plant and it will have an initial capacity of 2 million tonne per annum (MTPA) expandable to 5 MTPA.

The joint venture would have its captive coking coal mining subsidiary in Russia and iron-ore mining subsidiary in India to ensure long-term supply of these critical raw materials.
Severstal will share its latest technology for the proposed plant that would focus on producing superior grade steel used in sectors such as automobiles, Som said.