a day ago
Bengal steel industry to get Rs8,000cr investment over 5 years
Kolkata: Bengal's steel industry is poised for an investment of Rs 8,000 crore over the next five years, as two major players are set to expand their production capacity to meet the rising demand.
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Shakambhari Group, an integrated steel manufacturing conglomerate, plans to invest Rs 5,000 crore to build a new steel plant in Purulia by 2030-31. Another Bengal-based player, Adukia Industries, will invest Rs 3,000 crore to ramp up the capacity of its existing facility in Purulia over the next five years.
The companies revealed their investment plans on the first day of the Bigmint India Ferrous Week, a three-day industry conference jointly organised by Steel Re-Rolling Mills Association of India (SRMA) and West Bengal Sponge Iron Manufacturers Association (WBSIMA).
Shakambhari Group's CMD Deepak Kumar Agarwal said, "Over the past decade, we took over and revived several sick manufacturing units. We also acquired an aluminium unit. We have manufacturing units in Durgapur, Asansol, and Purulia. At Raghunathpur in Purulia, we have acquired 500 acres to set up an integrated steel plant, with an investment of Rs 5,000 crore in five years."
Vivek Adukia, director of Adukia Industries and chairman of SRMA, said Bengal had huge land banks at Junglesundari in Purulia and at Panagarh Industry Park in West Burdwan for steel manufacturing units.
"Currently, we have six manufacturing units in the state – two in West Burdwan, two in East Burdwan, one in Purulia, and a casting unit in Howrah. The Centre's National Steel Policy 2017 aims to meet a crude steel production capacity of 300 million tonnes by 2030 in the country. By March this year, the industry had already achieved 156 million tonnes production. To expand our business, we are going to invest Rs 3,000 crore in five years on the augmentation of the Purulia unit," Adukia said.
