Mittal announces Rs 40,000 crore plant for Orissa HindustanTimes Saturday July 8, 2006
Thirty years ago when Lakshmi Mittal set out from Kolkata to acquire a 65,000-tonne steel plant in Indonesia, he requested Biju Patnaik, the then Orissa chief minister, to inaugurate it. The Kalinga Bull had close ties to Indonesia (it was Biju Patnaik who named Sukarno’s daughter, Megawati). As things turned out, the steel plant went on to make huge profits and the acquisition was to become a hallmark of Mittal’s later business strategy: acquire loss-making, often state-owned plants, inject them with cutting-edge technology and management skills, and put them in the black.
Back in India, flush with his successful bid for Arcelor, it seemed fitting that Mittal would return to Orissa, to Biju Patnaik’s youngest son Naveen who is the present chief minister, and return the favour. At a press conference, the steel titan announced plans to set up a Rs 40,000 crore, 12-milliontonne steel plant to come up in two phases in Orissa.
Press Trust of India Bhubaneswar, July 7, 2006:
Unhappy over the progress of its mega steel project in Jharkhand, steel tycoon Lakshmi Niwas Mittal on Friday announced an investment of more than $6.5 billion for setting up a 12-million-tonne project in Orissa. Fresh from his successful acquisition of European steel giant Arcelor, Mittal began his day-long India visit from Orissa and announced his investment plans immediately after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik. On Jharkhand, where his company has sought a Letter of Comfort from the state government to identify iron ore mines, Mittal said, "Though the Jharkhand government is cooperating, we are not happy with the progress there. "We are weighing our options in Orissa. We want to move fast," he said. Immediately after acquisition of Luxembourg-based Arcelor, Mittal had announced that India and China would be his focus for expansion.
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