The Sajjan Jindal-led JSW Group is investing about INR 2 lakh crore in Odisha in steel, cement and electric vehicles among other businesses, aiming to establish one of India’s largest industrial complexes by leveraging the state’s abundance of natural resources such as iron ore.
“Whenever and wherever JSW Group contemplates making investments, Odisha has always been the top destination in mind,” group chairman Sajjan Jindal told ET. “We have already invested INR 30,000 crore here so far and we are committed to invest an additional INR 1,65,000 crore.”
Last week, the USD 23 billion JSW group signed an MoU with the Odisha government for an electric vehicle project. The company has a presence in steel manufacturing, power, cement and ports in the state.
JSW Steel and JSW Group will spend about INR 65,000 crore on setting up an integrated steel manufacturing complex at Jagatsinghpur in the state. This complex will also have a captive power plant, a cement manufacturing unit and a port facility, apart from a modern township, they said on Thursday.
“We are going to set up a 13.2 million tons per annum integrated green steel manufacturing facility here. Apart from this, we will have a 900 MW power plant, a 10 million tons per annum cement plant and a 52 million tons per annum greenfield jetty port,” Jindal said. The INR 65,000 crore investment in Jagatsinghpur is likely to generate 30,000 direct and indirect jobs, he said.
JSW has been given 2,958 acres of land by the Industrial Development Corporation of Odisha. Of this, it got possession of 2,677.80 acres of forest land last month. Non-forest land of 272.51 acres has been leased to the company by the state government over the last two years.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone for the plant on Thursday. This unit in Odisha is expected to be one of the largest in the manufacturing sector.
South Korean steel giant POSCO had earlier planned on setting up a 12 million tonne capacity plant at the location. That was abandoned amid local protests and delays in environmental clearance. The company was to spend INR 52,000 crore on the project but withdrew in 2017.
Tata Steel, Jindal Steel and Power, and Steel Authority of India already have significant manufacturing capacities in the state. Odisha accounts for more than half the country’s total output of iron ore, the primary raw material for steel.
JSW Steel currently has the capacity to produce around 30 million tonnes of the alloy. That’s expected to increase to 38.5 million tonnes by FY25. Its plant in Vijaynagar in Karnataka is currently the largest in India with a capacity of 12.5 million tonnes.
Most steel producers in the country have been adding capacities over the last few years given the growth in demand. India is currently the second-largest producer of steel in the world after China.
EV Play
The JSW Group will invest INR 40,000 crore to set up an electric vehicle and battery plant in Cuttack, Odisha.
“We will focus on high-end research with an objective to produce ‘Designed by and for Indians’,” Jindal said. “We seek to redefine the way people commute and power their lives by enhancing EV penetration. We want to revolutionise the automotive industry by producing high-quality batteries and electric vehicles which are not only affordable but also technologically advanced.”
The electric vehicle facility will have the capacity to produce 300,000 passenger electric cars and 100,000 commercial e-vehicles each year. It will also have a 50 GW battery plant, a 1 million ton per annum copper smelter, a 60,000 tons per annum lithium-ion facility and a research and development centre.
