JSW Steel to halt expansion of Vijayanagar unit

Bengaluru : JSW Steel will not go ahead with its proposed expansion plans at its Vijayanagar (Bellary) unit until it receives approval for captive iron ore mine in Karnataka. It had earlier evinced interest to expand the capacity of the Vijayanagar facility to 16 million tonnes (mt) from 10 mt.

Vinod Nowal, chief executive officer and director of the company, said, “We will not expand the capacity to 16 mt until there is a captive iron ore source available to us." He was speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a seminar organised by the Bangalore Chambers of Commerce and Industry here.

The Supreme Court yesterday refused to entertain a plea of the company to direct the Karnataka government to lease a captive mine for the plant. The court was not convinced by JSW’s submission that it made an investment of Rs 10,000 crore by setting a steel plant on the assurances of the state government that a captive mine would be allotted to it. It, however, allowed the company to appeal in the Karnataka High Court with its grievances.