July 05, 2008
Indian steel sector announces 31 million tonne CAPEX in Q4 of 2007-08
ASSOCHAM Investment Meter report said Indian steel majors have lined up investments of as much as INR 892.4 billion during January to march 2008 to fund their capacity expansion plans totaling 31 million tonnes of steel projects.
The study found that Orissa attracted almost half of the total CAPEX announcements made in the steel sector with planned investments of about INR 450 billion.
| State | CAPEX | Capacity |
| Orissa | 450 | 18.5 |
| Chhattisgarh | 160 | 5.0 |
| West Bengal | 119 | 3.7 |
| Jharkhand | 70 | 3.0 |
Capacity in million tonnes
The study further found that almost 90% of the total investments planned by the steel majors would be made in building up of new steel plants and the remaining 10% would be utilized in expansion of existing plant capacity and building up of steel processing units among other activities.
Mr VN Dhoot president of ASSOCHAM said that “Even if two third of the investment announcements materialize, the resultant capacity expansion would be instrumental in easing the pressure on prices in long run.”
Mr Dhoot added that “It is imperative to maintain investment friendly environment in order to ensure that planned investments are actually made and capacity gets enhanced as quickly as it is possible.”
