It is reported that unsatisfied with the progress of proposed steel projects entailing estimated investment of INR 11 lakh crore, the government will review hundreds of MoUs signed by companies in past 5 to 6 years as most of them have remained only on paper.

Mr Beni Prasad Verma steel minister said "Our companies have mastered the art of signing MoUs as most of them are on paper only. As many as 236 such agreements have been signed in last 5-6 years for setting up iron and steel units but most of them have neither acquired land nor have got mining leases to set up their units."

Most of the MoUs have been signed between private corporate houses with several states including Karnataka, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. The government had set the target of producing 120 million tonnes of steel by March 2012 of which only 75 million tonnes to 78 million tonnes capacity has been created so far.

According to experts, the target looks unachievable in view of delays in setting up plants.

(Sourced from economictimes.indiatimes.com)