Essar plans to invest Rs 12,000 crore in setting up a 14 mtpa export-oriented pelletising complex with iron ore fines beneficiation plant at Keonjhar, a pellet plant at Paradip port, and a 250 km slurry pipeline. Apart from these, the company plans to develop a 7.5 mtpa crude-to-petrochemical complex, in partnership with an international player, at an investment of about Rs 40,000 crore.
Prashant Ruia, Director, Essar Capital, said the company pioneered setting up a 12 mtpa iron ore pellet plant and a 260 km slurry pipeline to Paradip, about 13 years back, which was instrumental in Odisha realising its potential and becoming the national leader in the minerals and mining sector. Essar is once again poised to make significant fresh investments in Odisha in metals, mining, and energy, he said at the Make in Odisha Conclave.
Essar recently concluded its asset monetisation programme and completed the debt repayment of USD 25bn (Rs 2,00,000 crore) effectively making the group debt-free. The company is now looking at reinvesting in building new assets and strengthening existing operations both in India and overseas, with more efficient, latest and carbon-neutral new-age technologies.