To strengthen its presence in the domestic steel segment, footwear-to-steel conglomerate Action Group plans to invest Rs 7,000 crore in its Odisha facility in the next three years to increase the capacity 10-fold to 2.5 million tonnes (MT).
The Group also plans to set up a steel project on the West Coast, in addition to existing two mills at Jharsuguda, Odisha and Raipur, Chhattisgarh, both having a capacity of 0.25 million tonnes each.
"We will invest Rs 7,000 crore in our Orissa plant by 2015-16 to augment its capacity to 2.5 MT. We may borrow part of the funds to be invested in the plant and may also opt for listing in next two years," CEO of the group's steel arm Action Ispat & Power (P) Ltd Navneet Agarwal told PTI.
Agarwal said the company has already been alloted a captive iron ore by the Orissa government for raw material security for the plant and exploration is going on to prove the reserves.
"Our requirement is for 60 MT of ore reserves in Orissa," he said, adding at present the company sources iron ore from private miners and has pact with Coal India for supply of 0.5 MT of coal.
"The requirement for coal will increase to 1.5 MT for which we have already requested the CIL," he added.
Agarwal said, "The company is willing to establish a two million tonnes steel plant on the West Coast and has already identified some 500 acres of land for it."
He, however, did not elaborate on investment for West Coast plan, saying that it was premature and any comment will be made after detailed project report.
Besides, plants, the Action Ispat & Power is geared up to take its captive power plant capacity from 37 MW at present to 90 MW by the end of the current quarter entailing an investment of Rs 500 crore, he said.
The Action group is one of domestic business conglomerates that commenced its operations in footwear and later diversified into steel, chemicals, computer monitors, housing projects, health care and retails segments among others.
