South Korean steel major Posco and the world?s largest steel manufacturer ArcelorMittal have received clearances from the Karnataka government to set up steel plants in Karnataka. The state has also cleared projects by Lafarge, Shell and GAIL, thereby giving a major facelift to industrial growth, ahead of the Global Investors Meet in Karnataka in June.
Posco would pump in Rs 32,300 crore to establish its steel plant in Karnataka, which is rich in iron ore deposits. The company will produce six million tonne of steel per annum.
ArcelorMittal will invest around Rs 30,000 crore for its steel plant in Karnataka. The company has inspected three places in Bellary, Bagalkot and Raichur districts to set up their plants, a top official attached to secretariat of the Karnataka government said. The Arcelor plant is also expected to have a capacity of around 6 million tonne.
The proposals were cleared by the High Level Committee (HLC) chaired by Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa.
At present, the state houses an integrated steel plant of JSW Steel, a part of JSW Group, in Bellary belt. With the Karnataka government clearing the proposals of Posco and ArcelorMittal, the state is on its way to become the steel hub of India.
In addition to this, the HLC cleared 36 other mega projects on Tuesday. The government has shown green signal to Lafarge, the world?s top cement manufacturer, to set up its cement manufacturing facility in the state. Lafarge will invest Rs 1,500 crore.
The HLC has also cleared two gas pipeline projects. Relogistics, a subsidiary of Reliance Transportation Infrastructure Ltd, will lay the gas pipeline between Chennai-Bangalore and Mangalore. Similarly, GAIL (India) Ltd will lay the gas pipeline from Dhabol to Belgaum and Bangalore. These gas infrastructure projects will help the industries en-route and gas-based power projects along the pipeline route.
Another major project cleared by HLC was of Shell, a world leader in oil industry. The company will set up its R&D centre in Bangalore with an investment of Rs 1,376 crore.
Besides, the proposal of Zuari Fertilisers and Chemicals to set up their urea manufacturing plant also was cleared. The company would establish its urea production facility in Belgaum district with an investment of Rs 4,565 crore to produce 11.55 million tonne of urea per annum.
In the information technology front, the government has cleared the proposal of Wipro and Tata Elexi to expand their facilities near Bangalore International Airport. In total the HLC has cleared 38 projects with an investment of Rs 1,38,300 crore creating employment to 92,350 persons in Karnataka.