The world?s largest steel producer, ArcelorMittal, which plans to set up its first ever greenfield projects in India, on Wednesday announced its India operations team. Vijay Bhatnagar, who will be country CEO, heads the three-member squad. Bhatnagar previously headed the company?s operations in Eastern Europe and Mexico.
Former Steel Authority of India (Sail) director Sanak Mishra is CEO for the company?s greenfield steel projects in Jharkhand and Orissa, where it is investing close to Rs 80,000 crore to set up plants with an annual capacity of 12 million tonne each. Mishra was earlier executive director at Sail and later headed its Rourkela steel plant. ArcelorMittal global mining head MP Singh will be vice-president of mining projects. Singh previously headed Arcelor Mittal?s M&A team.
Commenting on the new team, ArcelorMittal CFO Aditya Mittal said, ?India is a very important country for ArcelorMittal. We are committed to investing large sums in the country over the next decade and it is important that we have the right team to lead these investments.?
The $105-billion steel giant has asked for 600 mt of iron ore for each of its proposed plants in Jharkhand and Orissa over a 30-year period. This is based on the fact that 1.6 mt of iron ore is required to produce 1 mt of steel.
While the Jharkhand government has recommended ArcelorMittal be given the Chiria iron ore mines, the move has been challenged by Sail in the Jharkhand High Court. The central government is attempting to broker an out-of-court settlement.