The Supreme Court on Friday cleared South Korean steel major Posco's plans to set up a Rs 51,000 crore (Rs 510 billion) mega steel plant and captive minor port in Paradeep, Orissa.A special environmental bench headed by Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan allowed Posco India Pvt Ltd, a subsidiary of Korea-based Posco, to go ahead with the project, for which an agreement was signed with Orissa government on June 22, 2005.
Orissa has said that the 43 steel firms in the state plan to generate 58,510 jobs by the time the projects go on stream.
Tata Steel is in the process of filing a curative petition in the Supreme Court in connection with the apex court ruling which said that states have the power to levy cess on mining and mineral-use activities. The petition by the steel manufacturing firm is aimed at seeking remedy to the order, passed by a 9-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court on July 25. However, Tata Steel's managing director and chief executive officer T V Narendran told Business Standard that there was no demand note on the firm.
The Orissa government on Thursday pulled up ArcelorMittal, for "not making any investment" so far in its proposed 12mtpa greenfield steel plant at Keonjhar, questioned its "actual intentions".
The Orissa government on Tuesday rejected the demand to scrap Posco's steel project, saying the Rs 51,000-crore (Rs 510 billion) project could contribute 11.5 per cent to the state's gross domestic products in terms of value addition.
As part of this, the state government is planning to engage global diamond mining company De Beers for undertaking a detailed survey of the diamond reserves in Nuapada.
Tata Steel has expanded its presence in Orissa following acquisition of 100 per cent of equity stake in Rawmet Industries Private Limited, a company having its registered office at Kolkata, at an enterprise value of Rs 101 crore (Rs 1.01 billion).
The Orissa government on Monday said it will within the next three months, remove all hurdles to South Korean steel giant Posco's Rs 52,000 crore (Rs 520 billion) plant in the state amid a possible review of investment.
Arcelor-Mittal added one more site on Monday -- Chiplima in Sambalpur district -- to the four it is currently surveying for its proposed 12 million tonne steel facility in Orissa.
Mittal Steel is likely to sign within the next two months, an agreement with the Orissa government for setting up a steel plant at an investment of $7 billion.
The state government has already decided to challenge Orissa High Court's July 14 judgement that set aside recommendation of Posco-India's name for prospecting license (PL) over Khandadhar iron ore reserve.
Vedanta Group, which was denied mining rights in Orissa's Niyamgiri hills, on Thursdaysaid it will not pull out of the state.
Arcelor-Mittal proposed two plants in Orissa and Jharkhand of 12-million tonne capacity each. These are the first greenfield projects anywhere by Mittal.
South Korean steel giant Posco's wait for a mining licence in Orissa has got a little longer.
A delegation of Vedanta Group led by Kumar met Mohanty and urged him to accelerate process of providing alternative source of bauxite after the company was refused permission to start mining atop Niyamgiri hills in Kalahandi district.
Maoists on Friday exploded a bomb in Meghatpur mine and planted another at Kiribur, both run by public sector Steel Authority of India Limited along the Orissa-Jharkhand border. The attack comes hours after the Maoists blasted rail tracks in Jharkhand's West Singhbhum district that derailed the Tata-Bilaspur passenger train leaving two passengers dead.
Orissa could be on the cusp of a new era of industrialisation with the state government considering proposals for Rs 122,000 crore (Rs 1,220 billion) in investments, mainly in steel, alumina and power sectors, official sources said.
The land acquisition work will start in a peaceful manner," Steel and Mines Minister Raghunath Mohanty told reporters adding the land acquisition work had been halted for nine months due to a 'stop work' order from the Ministry of Environment and Forest.
It is raining mega investment in Orissa, but none of the big ticket projects have made any headway.
Seeking to dispel confusion over the shifting of Posco plant in Orissa, the state government on Thursday asserted that the Rs 51,000 crore (Rs 510 billion) project of the South Korean steel giant would come up at its proposed site only, near Paradip.
Naveen Patnaik was injured when ruling and opposition members clashed over the government's agreement with a private mining company.
Patnaik said the prime minister assured him on the Polavaram dam project in Andhra Pradesh, saying that none of the tribal villages in Orissa would be submerged.
Almost all major metal and mining firms would be affected by the Supreme Court ruling canceling 214 coal blocks, but Naveen Jindal's JSPL and Aditya Birla Group's Hindalco would be among the worst hit, analysts said.
Operations at 26 mines are set to commence again within a couple of months.
A reception often reserved for rockstars came the way of mining mogul Anil Agarwal when he started revealing nuggets of his ascent from a scrap-metal dealer to one of India's most prominent self-made industrialists on social media. And now he has been flooded with booking writing proposals and has even been offered money for a biopic. In February this year, Agarwal, 68, started tweeting his journey from Bihar to Mumbai first and then to London to head a globally diversified natural resources company with interests in zinc-lead-silver, iron ore, steel, copper, aluminium, power, oil and gas.
Pursuit of raw material had landed Bhushan Steel in the coal block allocation scam.
It is the low cost of iron ore extracted from their adivasi homeland mines that enables steelmakers like Tata Steel and Essar, and miners like NMDC, not only to be among the most profitable companies in India, but also gives it the financial muscle to make huge overseas acquisitions. Ultimately, it is the poor adivasi who pays for it with his home and hearth and gets no credit for it! Either from the State, which connives in their exploitation, or the industry that lords over their resources, says Mohan Guruswamy.
Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (APSEZ) on Tuesday announced the acquisition of a 95 per cent stake in Gopalpur Ports in Odisha from Shapoorji Pallonji Group and Orissa Stevedores Ltd at an equity value of Rs 1,349 crore. In Gopalpur Ports, Shapoorji Pallonji Group (SP Group) firm SP Port Maintenance Pvt Ltd has a 56 per cent stake and Orissa Stevedores Ltd (OSL) has a 44 per cent stake. Gopalpur Port is an all-weather deep-water berthing port with a capacity of 20 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) situated in Ganjam district of Odisha.
The Centre has conceded most of the demands of potential buyers of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL). These include lowering the lock-in period for sale of assets to one year and allowing the new buyer to undertake the amalgamation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) into NINL. An inter-ministerial group led by Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey and the core group of secretaries on divestment (CGD) headed by Cabinet secretary Rajiv Gauba have decided that the lock-in period can be reduced to one year from the date of completion of sale, from the earlier three years proposed by Dipam, an official in the know said.
In Jharkhand, the company is hopeful of starting work as soon as the mines issue is resolved, while in Orissa, consultants for the detailed project report (DPR) and the socio-economic survey have been appointed.
South Korean steel giant Posco's 12 million tonne integrated steel project in Orissa is likely to face further delay.
In the present framework, he said the ministry will talk to states to expedite the process of granting iron ore leases to ArcelorMittal and South Korean steel giant Posco.
The court was hearing cross appeals filed by the state government and a mine and mineral company challenging the Orissa High Court's order on the issue of iron ore mines.
The sites coming under the cancelled leases figure in an unwritten assurance reportedly given by the government not just to Mittal Steel, but also to some of the domestic steel producers.
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.
Taken aback by the attack, Orissa government promised early clearances to mega steel projects, including Mittal's.
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