BHUBANESWAR: Union Steel Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday sought cooperation of global steel major ArcelorMittal in making the mineral-rich Odisha a steel hub.ArcelorMittal executive chairman LN Mittal and CEO Aditya Mittal called on Pradhan and discussed ways to boost domestic steel production, make the mining sector more vibrant and capacity expansion of the company in the State.
After holding discussion on a wide ranging issues in steel, oil, gas and mining sector Pradhan in a tweet said, “Had good conversations with Shri LN Mittal, Executive Chairman & Shri Aditya Mittal, CEO, @ArcelorMittal, on driving innovation and making our oil, gas, steel, petrochemicals & mining sector more vibrant, efficient & globally competitive to fuel #AatmanirbharBharat’s growth story.” The discussion mostly centered around how to develop Odisha as an international hub for steel sector and what will be the role of ArcelorMittal in realising the dream.
With India aiming to reach a crude steel production capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030-2031 and the Centre working on strengthening the steel ecosystem of Odisha to ramp up the capacity to 100 million tonne, Pradhan said that ArcelorMittal can contribute significantly by way of value addition to the abundant minerals available in the State under the Purvoday and Atmanibhar Bharat mission of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The Union Minister laid emphasis on private investment and use of cutting age technology to make the steel internationally competitive.The meeting assumes significance as it took place nearly two months after the Union Minister’s visit to the steel-making facilities of ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel (AMNS) India at Hazira in Gujarat on January 4, 2021.AMNS is an integrated steel manufacturer, creating smarter and sustainable steels for a wide spectrum of steel-consuming industries in India.