Bhubaneswar: JSW Steel will sign a joint venture agreement with Tokyo-headquartered JFE Steel Corporation on April 24 for a Rs 30,000-crore investment to add 6 million tonne per annum (MTPA) capacity at JSW-acquired Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BSPL) in Sambalpur, govt officials said on Tuesday.The development comes a day after JSW Steel and South Korea’s POSCO signed a joint venture agreement at the India-Korea Business Summit in New Delhi, announcing Dhenkanal as the location for their proposed 6 MTPA integrated steel plant envisaging Rs 35,000 crore investment, marking POSCO’s formal re-entry into the state.Additional chief secretary (industries) Hemant Sharma said the JSW-JFE joint venture will see an equal investment of Rs 15,000 crore each by the two companies. The proposed expansion will raise BSPL’s capacity beyond 10 MTPA from the current around 4 MTPA. He added that the proposed 6 MTPA JSW-POSCO plant in Dhenkanal will be part of a twin-campus project, with part of the facility located in Keonjhar district.Coinciding with South Korean president Lee Jae Myung’s India visit, JSW Steel and POSCO signed the JV pact at the India-Korea Business Summit on Monday to set up the 6 MTPA integrated steel plant in Dhenkanal. Saffron Resources Private Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of JSW, would become the JV between JSW and POSCO Group.POSCO’s return to Odisha is significant, as it had shelved its earlier plan for a 12 MTPA plant in Jagatsinghpur — proposed in 2005 with an investment of Rs 52,000 crore — before exiting the project in 2017.Calling it a key milestone, the JSW Group said in a post on X that the agreement was signed in the presence of senior leadership from both companies and government representatives. The Sajjan Jindal-led group said land for the project has already been secured and the plant will produce high-grade flat steel for the automotive and other sectors.Sharma said JSW is simultaneously pursuing steel plant plans across Dhenkanal and Patna in Keonjhar district, as around 900 acres are available in Dhenkanal and about 2,200 acres in Keonjhar. The govt will work to make more land available.JSW Steel and POSCO had earlier signed an MoU in Oct 2024. The project, expected to be operational by 2031, will give POSCO access to India’s fast-growing steel market, the company said in a statement. Odisha currently has a steel-making capacity of 45 MTPA and aims to scale it up to 130 MTPA by 2030.
