The Hindu Business Line : JSW to invest $1 b in US steel unit

Bellary April 30 JSW Ltd, one of the five main primary steel producers in the country, is planning to set up a greenfield steel plant in the US with an investment of around $1 billion, company Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Sajjan Jindal said.

"We are planning a five million tonnes rolling facility with an investment of around $1 billion (around Rs 4,000 crore). The company is essentially planning a greenfield unit. The location is yet to be finalised and talks are on with several states. We are, in particular, looking at costal areas," Mr Jindal said.

The company is basically planning to export semi-finished steel from the integrated plant that it is setting up at Salboni in West Bengal, which is very close to Haldia port. The US plant would do further value addition, Mr Jindal told press persons here.

The company is also planning to seek special economic zone (SEZ) status for the West Bengal plant. "SEZ status for the West Bengal plant is not only because there could be certain tax advantages but also for other reasons that may lead to improvement in functioning and greater efficiency levels," he said.

The proposed plant in the US would have a capacity of five million tonnes per annum and would essentially cater to local demand. The move would give the company a foothold in the US market that would help establish JSW as a global brand, he said.

"We are also exploring opportunities in the European market. We are looking at several countries. It may be Portugal, it may be Italy, it may be Holland but we have not finalised anything till now," he added.

AUTOMOBILES

"We are also planning to enter the automobile component sector as further value addition to the raw material steel that we are already making. We are examining options and would finalise the location soon," he said. The auto component facility would be somewhere close to the existing automobile hubs in the country.

"It could be Gurgaon in Haryana where there are several major auto manufacturers or it may also be somewhere close to Chennai," Mr Jindal said.

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