Nagpur: Kolkata-based Super Smelters, which finalised a proposal within seven days and signed a memorandum of understanding for a Rs10,000 crore steel plant during the Advantage Vidarbha event on Thursday, plans to set up a 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) capacity steel unit at Gadchiroli. This adds to the list of steel units planned in the district. The company’s promoters had contacted Association of Industrial Development (AID), the organisation which organised the event, after which Super Smelters took up the proposal before the state govt. The company, which sells steel products under the Super Shakti brand, has a 4.4 MTPA steel plant at Jhamuria Industrial Estate in West Bengal. With a brownfield expansion of 2 MTPA planned at Jhamura and the proposed plant at Gadchiroli, the company is eyeing to nearly double its capacity.Super Smelters prefers Gadchiroli due to the availability of coal and iron ore. However, talking to TOI, the company’s top management officials also mooted that assured availability of iron ore can help speed up its plans. They suggested that the state govt should consider supplying iron ore through a linkage system, as it does for coal. As coal is also a key input for steel-making and other industries, it also available through linkages from Coal India Limited (CIL) subsidiaries. The state can have a similar model for iron ore too, they said.Even as the company is open to taking part in the iron ore block auctions, the bidding process ultimately makes the iron ore costly. Rather, the ore can be mined by a state govt undertaking and made available to the steel units, said the company’s CEO Pawan Kakani.Aryan Agrawal, a director in Super Smelters, said availability of iron ore through a linkage mechanism can change the dynamics, making even domestic steel competitive with China. “The iron ore cost is a major factor in ensuring competitiveness,” he said.A number of companies in the steel sector announced plans for expansion due to robust demand in domestic infrastructure and other related sectors that require steel. “Even the scale achieved from expansion by various industries can lead to competitiveness against China,” said Agrawal. Super Smelters plans to set up both blast furnace and sponge iron-based steel plants in Gadchiroli, apart from a captive power plant.
