Calcutta, Jan. 9: City-based Neo Metaliks has proposed a 1.5-milliontonne steel plant in Bengal.
The company is the latest to join the list of firms that have queued up to build steel mills in the state, including JSW, Bhushan and Videocon.
Neo Metaliks, which is part of hosiery maker Rupa Group, has applied to the state government for coal linkages and land. Director Ravi Agarwal said the company was planning to invest between Rs 2,500 crore and Rs 3,000 crore in the project.
“We need around 800-1,000 acres for this project. The government has not got back on our formal proposal but will possibly identify plots in the Durgapur-Asansol region,” he added.
The company plans to make mainly long products. It has applied for iron ore blocks in Orissa and Jharkhand and coal blocks in Madhya Pradesh, Bengal and Jharkhand.
The company plans to set up pellet plants near iron ore mine pitheads to use resources better.
It will then bring the pellets to the Bengal plant to manufacture the final product. The steel plant will be set up in two to three years.
The company has started expanding its existing business.
It has a 150,000-tonne pig iron plant in Durgapur which it wants to convert into a 500,000-tonne high-grade alloy steel or auto casting steel plant.
“We are considering these two options and a decision will be taken in three to four months,” Agarwal said.
The company is setting up a sinter plant and a coke oven unit to keep raw material prices in check.
The cumulative investment in the expansion projects is pegged at Rs 400 crore. It will be done over the next two years.
Neo Metaliks is expected to post a turnover of Rs 300 crore this year. Agarwal said the company had targeted a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore by 2009-10.
The group, on the other hand, is expecting to do Rs 1,000-crore business in the next fiscal.