India: Odisha govt greenlights INR 1.37 lakh crore of investment for 20 industrial projects

• Tata Steel receives approval to expand NINL capacity
  
  
• Orissa Metallurgical to set up steel plant in Bhadrak
  
  

The Odisha government sanctioned 20 industrial projects worth INR 136,622.24 crore in a high-level clearance authority (HLCA) meeting. Of these, the largest is Tata Steel's expansion of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL), a project worth INR 61,769.03 core. NINL, acquired by Tata Steel in 2022, will be expanded into an integrated steel plant of 9.50 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from its current capacity of 0.98 mtpa. The plant is located in the vicinity of Tata Steel's 3-mtpa Kalinganagar plant in Jajpur, whose capacity is being scaled up to 8 mtpa.

The other projects in the ferrous sector include an INR 6,000-crore integrated steel plant proposed in the Bhadrak district by Orissa Metallurgical Industry, an INR 1,300-crore steel plant proposed by Nakshit Iron and Steel in Dhenkanal, and the INR 1,221-crore expansion of the Bhadrak unit of Ferro Alloys Corporation (FACOR, now owned by Vedanta).

The Odisha government also approved a near doubling of aluminium smelter capacity, from 0.38 mtpa to 0.68 mtpa, at Hindalco's Sambalpur plant, with an estimated investment of INR 10,645 crore and a 6-mtpa cement (and 4-mtpa clinker) project that Ambuja Concrete North proposed to build in the southernmost district of Malkangiri at a cost of INR 4,000 crore.

The state's high-level committee also cleared 5 proposals in the chemical sector: an INR 11,782.05-crore high ash coal to ammonium nitrate plant (of 0.66-mtpa capacity) in Jharsuguda by Bharat Coal Gasification and Chemicals Limited (BCGCL), an INR 5,806-crore coal tar plant from Epsilon Carbon Ashoka, also in Jharsuguda, an INR 2,000-crore investment in a new generation phosphorus-based speciality chemicals plant from UPL Limited, and two plants in the Ganjam district - an INR 9,774.51-crore copper anode and fertiliser plant proposed by Indo Asia Copper (KIRI Group), and from the same group's Claronex Chemicals and Petrochemicals Pvt Limited, an INR 2,912-crore investment in an aniline and other derivatives manufacturing complex.

Several green energy projects were also cleared, taking the total promised investment to INR 136,622.24 crore, according to the government release.