NEW DELHI: India’s top steel makers including Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL), JSW, Vedanta Group and Adani Group are vying for under-construction NMDC Steel plant at Nagarnar, Chhattisgarh, which is a separate steel unit of government-owned NMDC Ltd. ‘
All these companies have submitted their expressions of interest (EoI) to buy government’s holding in it, according to the market sources. The central government will offload 50.79% of its 60.79% shares in the Nagarnar unit that is being set up with an investment of Rs 20,000 crore.
The new plant with an annual capacity of 3 million tonnes per annum is likely to be commissioned by the end of current fiscal. JSPL, JSW declined to comment. Meanwhile, no response was received on email sent to Adani Group and calls went unanswered to Tata Steel and Vedanta Group. The government has received multiple EoIs for the strategic disinvestment of NMDC Steel Ltd, tweeted DIPAM Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey on Friday.
“Multiple expressions of interest received for the strategic disinvestment of NMDC Steel. The transaction will now move to the second stage,” Pandey said, in a tweet, without disclosing the name of bidders. January 27 was the last date of submission of EoIs.
“It takes years for companies to set up a greenfield steel plant and the NMDC Steel plant is already ready for commission. It is situated closest to the best quality iron ore resource base and with good rail connectivity too. So, why wouldn’t any steel company not want to bid for it,” Arnab Kumar Hazra, deputy secretary general of Indian Steel Association told this newspaper.
The steel plant is 290-km away from Vizag port. Though the plant is running behind schedule, it is likely to be highly profitable as it is close to mines and ports and has captive iron ore mines.