With over 25% of India's iron ore reserves, Orissa accounts for over 10% of India's steel production capacity and has a crucial advantage in the iron & steel industry. Further, the presence of seaports in the state makes exports and imports cost effective and more competitive. The government has been taking steps to promote the iron & steel industry in the state. Prominent players present in Orissa's steel industry are SAIL and Neelachal Ispat Nigam limited.
The state government has signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with 45 companies for setting up steel plants of various capacities in the iron-ore rich parts of the state.
These include :
- POSCO (Pohang Steel Company), 5th largest steel producer in the world, signed an MoU with Government of Orissa to set up a 12 MT integrated steel plant at Paradeep with an investment of Rs.51,000 crores.
- Arcellor-Mittal, world's largest steel producer signed an MoU with Government of Orissa to set up a 12 MT integrated steel project at Patna in Keonjhar District with an investment of Rs.40,000 crores.
- Tata Steel , India 's largest private steel maker plans to develop a 6 MT steel plant at Duburi with an investment of Rs. 15,400 crores.
- Vedanta Resources Plc plans to set up a 5 MT steel plant in Keonjhar district of Orissa at an approximate cost of Rs. 12500 crores.
- Essar Steel Plans to set up a Greenfield steel plant in Orissa with a capacity of 4 MT with a likely investment of over Rs. 6846 crores.
- Jindal Stainless Ltd. is setting up a Greenfield stainless steel complex in Jajpur district with an investment of around Rs. 1612 crores.
Jindal Steel & Power Ltd. has signed a MoU with the Orissa Government to set up a 6 MT ferro alloys plant and a 900 MW captive plant near Angul with an investment of over Rs. 13135 crores.
Aluminium
Orissa is the largest producer of aluminium in India. In 2005-06, it produced over 415,000 tonnes of aluminium, representing around half of India's total aluminium production, Orissa's key advantage for aluminium industry is the fact that the state accounts for half of India's bauxite reserves. Its location makes it close to the Chinese and South East Asian markets and the presence of large ports makes it easier to access large export markets.
Prominent players in the aluminium industry in Orissa are NALCO and HINDALCO. NALCO is expanding its aluminium capacity from 218,000 TPA to 345,000 TPA. HINDALCO at Hirakud has already expanded their Aluminium smelting capacity from 65,000 TPA to 100,000 TPA. The installed capacity is being further increased to 146,000 TPA.
Utkal Alumina, a joint venture between AV Birla Group and Alcan, Canada, is setting up a 1.5 MT aluminium project with an investment of over Rs.10,725 crores.
Vedanta Alumina is setting up a 1MT alumina project at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of the state at a cost of nearly Rs.4000.00 crores.
Ferro-Alloys
There are two big Ferro Manganese plants in operation in the State. First Ferro-Manganese plant located at Joda in Keonjhar District is run by The Tata Iron & Steel Co. Ltd. The second plant at Rayagada in Koraput District is managed by Jeypore Sugar Co. Ltd. Both the plants get power from Hirakud Machhakund Hydro-electric projects.
A Ferro Silicon plant in Theruveli; about 20 kms from Rayagada in Koraput started in 1967. A Silicon Carbide plant is established at Theruveli to manufacture Silicon carbide. Two main companies engaged in manufacturing Ferro-Alloys are Indian Metal & Ferro Alloys Ltd.; manufacturer of Ferro Chrome and Krishna Ferro Products Ltd.; situated in the Rourkela Industrial Town.
