Naveen invites steelmakers to set up plants in Odisha

"I invite the steel producers to set up their industries in Odisha with the best possible facilitation by the state," Patnaik said.

He was addressing the inaugural session of the 7th Asia Steel Conference - 2018, organised jointly by the Indian Institute of Metals and Tata Steel here.

Patnaik said that Odisha is a mineral rich state with abundant resources of iron ore, coal, chrome and other minerals and the state government has been providing support for development of mineral based Industries.

He said Odisha is producing about half the country’s iron ore -- the critical input for steel making -- and it has a competitive advantage for production of steel.

From the installed capacity of about only 4 million tonnes per annum of crude steel in 1999-2000, the state now has 47 steel industries with the total capacity of over 33 million tonnes per annum which is about a fourth of the country’s total installed capacity.

The pellet plants have an installed capacity of about 29 million tonnes per annum, he pointed out.

As the National Steel Policy-2017 envisages increase in per capita steel consumption from the present 61 Kilogram to 158 Kg by 2030, Patnaik said Odisha is aiming to contribute substantially to this national target.

"My government has taken several initiatives over the years to facilitate setting up and operation of the industries. We have introduced the policy of long term linkage of iron ore, chrome ore and other minerals to the state based Industries through Odisha Mining Corporation Limited," he said.

Patnaik told the gathering that a National Investment and Manufacturing Zone is being developed at Kalinganagar, spread over 160 square kilometers.

The zone is envisaged to become a self-contained ecosystem along with residential, commercial and social amenities, he said adding that it will enable the potential investors to set up value added downstream industries.

Besides Patnaik, Union Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma, Asia Steel International Conference Chairman Anand Sen, President of Indian Institute of Metals Dr Biswajit Basu also attended the inagural session of the event.