South Korea’s Posco seeks to revive Odisha steel plant plan

South Korean steel manufacturer Posco plans to set up an integrated steel plant in Odisha with an investment of approximately Rs 90,000 crore, the country's ambassador Shin Bongkil said at a virtual roundtable meeting. During the virtual roundtable ‘South Korea and Odisha: Promoting Bilateral Business Opportunities’, organised by the Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) in association with Industrial Promotion and Invest Corporation of Odisha Ltd (IPICOL), Bongkil said the steel company plans to make one of the single largest foreign direct investments (FDI) in the history of India with an investment of around Rs 90,000 crore to set up an integrated steel plant in Odisha. The announcement from the South Korean ambassador came after four years of scrapping the greenfield project. In February 2017, Posco had communicated its intention to surrender the 1,880 acres of land handed over to it by Odisha Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO), saying that it had no intention to use it urgently. The project ran into bottlenecks and did not get a firm commitment from the Odisha government to get captive mines for the proposed plant following changes in the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulations) Act, 1957. Informing that 66 new Korean companies have entered India in the last year or so, Bongkil said these companies have invested Rs 125.80 crore in 2020 as compared to Rs 156.51 crore in the previous year. Young Seaon Park, Director of Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, said the Korean companies are eager to work in the areas of renewable energy, water treatment and smart city projects. Business-to-business meetings will be organised in September this year, for exploring opportunities in smart city projects. Image Source Also read: Odisha approves eight new industrial projects worth Rs.12.42 bn Also read: ArcelorMittal Nippon to build mega steel plant