Tata Steel may pump Rs 1 lakh cr into Odisha plant

Commissions 3.2 mtpa capacity, may expand to 16 mtpa by 2025

Terming Tata Steel's facility here a milestone in Odisha's industrial progress, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said investment on the project could go up to Rs 1 lakh crore by 2025.

"In the first phase, Rs 25,000 crore has been spent by Tata Steel, creating direct employment for 3,000 people and indirect employment for 22,000," he noted after formally inaugurating it.

Tata Steel had envisaged a six million tonnes per annuam (mtpa) mill, at an estimated cost of Rs 45,000 crore. The first phase is for three mtpa.

Chairman Cyrus Mistry said, "We have invested Rs 25,000 crore in the first phase. We will be investing Rs 2,000 crore on developing the iron ore mines at Khandabandh that will feed the plant. Kalinganagar would be the largest single (new) location steel plant in the country. Ten years later, this would be a much bigger industrial ecosystem."

Iron ore from the Joda mines will cater to Tata Steel's first-phase requirement till 2017. Then, the Khandabandh mines will meet the plant's requirement. The former would have a mining capacity of five mtpa.

Tata has been allotted 3,470 acres. The plant would roll out high-end flat steel products. In the first phase, it would roll out flat, lighter, high-tensile strength steel.

Once capacity becomes six mtpa, ramping up to 16 mtpa, envisaged at a later stage, would entail an additional investment of Rs 55,000 crore.