At the zenith of his success in capacity consolidation marked by acquisition of Arcelor in June 2006, and, in the process creating a steel behemoth of over 100 million tonnes (MT) capacity, Lakshmi Mittal, credited with spotting opportunities ahead of his peers, used to say that his squaring the circle would be complete with his setting foot in China and India.
The company was earlier hopeful of bringing the projects onstream by 2012. "Production will not start before 2014. The top reason is the economic downturn. The second reason is procedural delays," Vijay Kumar Bhatnagar, CEO, India operations, said. The ongoing economic slowdown has prompted steel producers worldwide to shelve new projects and scale down output as demand weakens from housing, automobiles and consumer durable sectors.
The government has threatened to cancel the coal block alloted jointly to ArcelorMittal and GVK Power in Jharkhand for the inordinate delay in developing the property.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the world looks at India as an important pillar of stability, a trusted friend, an engine of growth in the global economy, a technology hub for finding solutions and a powerhouse of talented youth. He also said that in the rapidly changing world order, India is moving forward as 'vishwa mitra' (friend of the world). Speaking at the inauguration of the 10th edition of the Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit, which saw participation of state hea
ArcelorMittal announced on Wednesday a new leadership for India, where Vijay Bhatnagar will spearhead the company's operations and proposed steel projects in the country. Bhatnagar will take up the new position of Country CEO, India and will have ultimate responsibility for the company's operations and projects in the country, a statement from ArcelorMittal said.
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ArcelorMittal has entered into binding agreements to reduce its economic and voting interest in Dillinger Hutte from 51.25 per cent to 33.4 per cent in line with existing governance rights through sale of shares to Struktur-Holding-Stahl GmbH & Co KG aA and Dillinger Hutte Saarstahl AG, a company statement said. Dillinger Hutte enterprise value is estimated to be about $2.6 billion, the statement said.
The company, headed by NRI billionaire Laxmi N Mittal, had clocked $0.345 billion net loss in the January-March quarter of the last year.
The world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal may cut 10,000 jobs globally next year and plans to reduce costs in order to regain its lost market share particularly in Europe, a media report says.
ArcelorMittal, Anglo Australian major Rio Tinto, Hyderabad-based GVK Power & Infrastructure, Essar Mineral Resources and JSW Steel are among 10 prominent corporations in a shortlist to develop 18 abandoned coal mines owned by state-owned Coal India Ltd and its eight subsidiaries.
The company is 'disappointed' with the progress made so far on its proposed 12-million tonnes per annum steel plant, each in Orissa and Jharkhand. It has rued the regulatory hurdles as well.
Enquiries indicate it belongs to an industrialist with links to a prominent cricketer.
Beating forecasts, ArcelorMittal on Wednesday reported a 18.5 per cent rise in its core profits (EBITDA) to $1.713 billion during the third quarter as it fared better almost on all parameters, including rise in steel shipments and iron ore sales.
ArcelorMittal is spending $5bn to double the output of its plant in Kazakhstan in a further expression of confidence by the world's biggest steelmaker in the likelihood of robust economic growth outside the main developed regions. Some $1.2bn of the investment is geared to improving health and safety at the steel plant in Temirtau and associated coal and iron ore mines.
ArcelorMittal on Tuesday said it has cut expenditure on research and development by 4 per cent.
"The loss in the second quarter of 2009 resulted from exceptional charges amounting to $1.2 billion primarily related to write-downs of inventory ($0.9 billion) and provisions for workforce reductions ($0.3 billion)," L N Mittal-promoted company said.
However, the company will go ahead with its plans in Jharkhand, and has secured iron ore mines and coal linkages to the project, company sources told Business Standard. An e-mail reply from the steel major said it was not expecting its projects in India to start before 2014.
Corporate India is starting to step up its capital expenditure plans amid government incentives and signs of rising demand, company executives and analysts have indicated. This coincides with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) recently citing a double-digit growth in private capital expenditure. Healthy balance sheets of banks and corporates, along with increasing capacity utilisation and improving business sentiment, are contributing to a favourable environment for sustained growth in private sector investments, the RBI said in its policy last week.
The company had signed a memorandum of understanding with the state government to set up the plant at an investment of Rs 30,000 crore (Rs 300 billion).
Global steel giant ArcelorMittal is set to relocate its plant proposed in Khunti-Gumla to Bokaro district in the state mainly on account of land acquisition problems
Apart from being the most successful cases under the IBC, Bhushan Steel and Essar Steel are among the best steel assets in the country. They also ended up helping their lenders get back a significant chunk of the money while allowing Tata Steel to consolidate its position and giving the world's two largest steel makers - ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel - a strong foothold in India. A significant contrast was the pace at which these two cases were resolved under the bankruptcy code. In the annals of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), Essar Steel may go down in history as the most noticeable resolution with the world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, and the incumbent, Ruia family, locked in an intense battle spanning more than two years and ultimately resulting in full recovery of the principal amount for the financial creditors.
The company had net income of $2.4 billion for the three months ended March 31, 2008. ArcelorMittal saw its sales went down by 31.6 per cent to $15.1 billion in the reporting period as against $22.1 billion in the same period last year.
Strong demand in the domestic market, coupled with an increase in raw material prices, is pushing up steel prices. According to SteelMint, a market intelligence and price reporting firm, the list price of flat steel has seen an increase of Rs 750-2,000 per tonne for October deliveries. The long steel price witnessed an increase of Rs 1,500 per tonne towards the end of September.
'The concept of an MP IPL team is the brainchild of Kamal Nath.' 'If the Congress government comes to power in the state, he will assemble an IPL team for MP with the assistance of his business contacts.'
On June 30, mining and metals giant Vedanta, announced that it had decided to initiate a strategic review of its steel and steel-making raw material businesses. The review would begin immediately and evaluate a broad range of options, including but not limited to a potential strategic sale of some or all of the steel businesses, the company said in its stock exchange filing. The signs have been there - approaches had been made to steel players over the past year. Last December, Anil Agarwal, chairman Vedanta group, told Business Standard that the steel plant capacity was about 3 million tonnes (mt).
Worried by a spike in Chinese imports, the Indian Steel Association (ISA) plans to take up the matter with the government and seek measures to fix "trade distortions". Alok Sahay, secretary general of the group that represents the country's steel producers, said systemic changes were needed. "In order to take any trade measure, it takes a minimum of 15 months' time, due to prevalence of lesser duty rule in India, making India an easy target. "We are going to write to the government on this," he said.
The festive season will mean business for the steel industry as it is the time when automotive and consumer appliance companies bump up demand to prepare for higher sales, experts have said. Ranjan Dhar, chief marketing officer at ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India), said that bookings by auto and consumer appliance industries are 20 per cent higher ahead of the festive season compared to last year. "While this could be for a couple of months, it could normalise later at approximately 10 per cent," he said.
"Lady candidates need not apply." So read the postscript in a job notice from Telco (now Tata Motors) on a notice board in the corridors of the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (now Bengaluru), in 1974. Irked, Sudha Murty, who was then pursuing her masters in computer science at the institute, wrote a postcard to JRD Tata, expressing her surprise at this gender discrimination, especially since the Tata Group were pioneers on many fronts. Shortly, Murty became the first woman on the firm's shop floor.
The chairman of the JSW Group of companies, Sajjan Jindal, whose stake in the group is valued at $14.5 billion (Rs 1.1 trillion), is betting $4.5 billion of his personal fortune in the firm's bid for Ambuja Cements. According to bankers, Jindal's contribution will be a combination of share sale and debts raised by pledging the stake of the target entities with private equities. The JSW Group chairman has offered $7 billion for Ambuja Cements, including $2.5 billion of investments from private equities, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday.
Raw material prices had been on the rise, but since Russia waged war on Ukraine, prices have surged.
Aided by the $57.8-billion merger of HDFC Bank and HDFC, India Inc reported its highest ever mergers and acquisitions in calendar 2022 at $171 billion as against deals worth $145 billion announced last year. The acquisition by the Adani group across cement, media and ports dominated the headlines with the conglomerate making its foray into the cement sector by buying Swiss materials firm Holcim's stake in Ambuja Cements for $6.5 billion. The Adani family's additional $4-billion open offer for Ambuja did not get a response because shareholders preferred to stay invested with the new owner.
The Essar group hinted at challenging the verdict, citing last week's Supreme Court order that upheld the August 2018 amendment to the IBC law.
The turnaround of SAIL from several quarters of losses was one of the most challenging experience, said Anil Kumar Chaudhary, the outgoing chairman of the country's largest steel maker. The chairman said he also wants to see SAIL paying back at least 50 per cent of its debt in the near future. Chaudhary who had joined SAIL as a junior manager in 1984 would be superannuating from the top post on December 31, 2020 after serving the company for almost 36 years in various roles.
India produced 179 more super-rich people this year led by Adani Group's Gautam Adani who amassed a whopping wealth of Rs 365,700 crore or more than Rs 1,000 crore daily, and the number of such individuals has crossed the 1,000-mark. Geographically, five more cities are home to super-rich taking the total number of super-rich cities to 119 and these 1,007 individuals cumulatively added 51 per cent more wealth in 2021. The average wealth increased by 25 per cent this year that also saw the livelihoods of thousands of people being hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
With the threat of a third Covid-19 wave looming large, companies are scrambling to protect employees and keep operations safe--from a no-jab-no-entry-at-workplace policy to ramping up vaccination, it's an all-out effort to prevent the scale of devastation seen in the first two waves. At least two top steel companies--Tata Steel and ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India)--are pushing for vaccination certificates for entry into work premises. AM/NS India, a joint venture between world's leading steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, and Japan's Nippon Steel, is set to make vaccination the certificate a requirement from July 1.
Mittal's wealth dropped with the Arcelor Mittal share price falling
The new clean technology venture capital fund has invested $20 million in California-based Miasole, which is engaged in the development of thin-film solar panels, while the carbon fund has an initial investment commitment of $157 million, the steel-maker said. "The fund is managed by a team from ArcelorMittal Flat Carbon Americas and its investment decisions are taken by a six-person Investment Committee chaired by ArcelorMittal FCA CEO Lou Schorsch," it added.
When the world was upended by the Covid-19 pandemic, metals got its shine back. In the last two years, infrastructure spending by major economies spurred demand, energy transition and intermittent supply disruptions fuelled a scorching rally in metals after a downturn during the first Covid wave. Now, Russia's war on Ukraine is ensuring that elevated prices stay the course.
British Indian artist Anish Kapoor on Saturday unveiled Britain's tallest sculpture, a twisted tangle of steel sponsored by ArcelorMittal, next to the Olympic Stadium that he called 'awkward but beautiful'.
Mukherjee, 60, responsible for Asia, Africa, the CIS, mining, stainless and pipes and tubes, will retire on May 13, the date of the company's annual general meeting, a company release said. The board of directors will propose to the AGM of shareholders that he will be appointed as a non-executive member of the Company's Board of Directors effective from that date.