MUMBAI: South Korean major Posco and Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Group plan to establish a steel plant in India with an initial capacity of five million tonnes a year, representing Posco’s latest effort to grow in one of the world’s biggest economies. Two years ago, Posco and the Adani Group had signed an agreement for a $5 billion steel mill project in Gujarat. This project has shown no advancement, according to sources.
The Posco-JSW alliance will also consider ventures in electric vehicle battery materials and renewable energy for their planned steel plant’s needs, as announced by both companies on Tuesday. Posco chairman Chang In-hwa said, “This collaboration (with JSW) will contribute significantly to the economic development of Korea and India and drive our joint efforts towards a more eco-friendly and sustainable future.”
Currently, Posco operates a 1.8-million-tonne mill in Maharashtra which produces cold-rolled steel for home appliances and vehicles, along with five processing centres across India.
Posco’s earlier attempt in 2005 to establish a $12-billion, 12-million-tonne steel facility in Odisha faced obstacles due to mining rights delays and local resistance to land acquisition. The Odisha govt later allocated the 2,900 acres originally meant for Posco to JSW Group’s steel company for their proposed 12-million-tonne plant. The location for the new Posco-JSW 5-million-tonne facility remains undisclosed. Other attempts by Posco include a failed partnership with SAIL for a steel plant in Bokaro, Jharkhand in 2010, which ended due to shareholding disputes, and an abandoned Karnataka steel project in 2013 due to land acquisition issues.
JSW Group, which has interests in electric vehicles through MG Motor India, is planning a 50 GWH battery manufacturing facility in Odisha.