A three-way joint venture between Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL) and MOIL (formerly known as Manganese Ore India Ltd.) to produce ferro alloys is on the cards with the earlier two separately proposed between SAIL-MOIL and MOIL-RINL having virtually been scrapped.
MOIL had inked two separate joint venture pacts with SAIL and RINL to set up two ferro alloy plants with a total outlay of Rs.600 crore.
“A couple of round discussions has already taken place between the three parties for jointly setting up the ferro alloy plant along with a captive power plant. Final decision will be taken in a couple of months’ time,” a source said.
Ferro alloys are used in steel-making for de-oxidising purposes.
The Rs.400-crore joint venture between SAIL and MOIL was proposed to be set up in Chhattisgarh with an annual capacity of one lakh tonne per annum. The Rs.200 crore venture between RINL-MOIL in Andhra Pradesh was supposed to manufacture 50,000 tonnes of ferro alloys a year.
While power shortage was the primary reason for scrapping the RINL-MOIL joint venture; till recently SAIL was maintaining that the proposed venture with MOIL was not yet scrapped.
Meanwhile, a committee has been set up comprising members from all the three state-run firms under the Steel Ministry to work on the shareholding pattern, proposed capacity and likely investment for the three-way venture, a top management in one of the three firms said.
“The committee is likely to submit its report in a couple of months. We will take a final decision on the venture after going through the report,” he said, adding the plant may come up at Nandini near Bhilai in Chhattisgarh.
