Bhushan Steel Putting $5 Billion Plus into Steel and Power Projects

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Bhushan Steel (New Delhi, India) is currently building a 2.2 million ton per annum (tpa) steel plant in Orissa with an investment of $1.22 billion. The first phase of the project, with a production capacity of 500,000 tpa, has been completed and the total project is scheduled for completion in 2009. Once completed, the state-of-the-art integrated steel and power plant will be one of the largest of its type in India. The company is also looking at the construction of a 6 million ton per annum integrated steel plant as an expansion of the plant being set up at Meramandali in Orissa.

In another project, the company plans to construct a 2 million tpa steel plant in West Bengal with facilities for a slab plant, coke ovens and a 1,000 MW captive power station on the same 2,000 acre site. It is also building a 500,000 tpa auto grade cold rolling and galvanizing plant in West Bengal. A location for the projects has been identified which will be near a coal pithead. The company is conducting talks to acquire a captive coal resource block for the two projects; the total investment will be around $2.1 billion.

In another energy project Bhushan has signed an agreement with the Chhattisgarh government to build a 1,000 MW, $975 million thermal power plant. Bhushan Energy will execute the power projects which must go through permitting procedures and government approvals.

Senior officials of the company are conducting roadshows in Singapore and Hong Kong with a goal of raising $100 million. They are also in discussion with the State Bank of India, Barclays and Deutsche Bank to raise funds as the company has already tied up funds for its Orissa expansion project. In 2006, Bhushan made sales of over $750 million of which $245 million were in exports.

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