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Tata Steel is in talks with a Russia-based firm to put up a facility for downstream steel products at its Gopalpur industrial park in Odisha. The steel company is the anchor tenant for the park spreading over 2,900 acres of land, where around 1,235 acres of land has been notified as a Special Economic Zone (SEZ).
"Discussions are on with a Russia based company for a steel downstream plant. We have exchanged data. We are inviting investments in priority sectors identified by the Odisha government", said Arun Misra, managing director, Tata Steel SEZ Ltd and vice president, Project Gopalpur.
In its capacity as the anchor tenant, Tata Steel has invested around Rs 500 crore on a ferro-chrome plant with an annual production rate of 55,000 tonnes. The park has 12 investment intents in the pipeline- a mix of overseas and domestic proposals across sectors like steel downstream, auto components manufacturing, logistics, metals and wellness products.
The steel maker is negotiating with an auto components manufacturer for a possible assembly line at Gopalpur.
"The company that we are talking to has a universal platform for battery driven cars. They have shown interest. But, the talks are still very preliminary", said Misra.
Efforts are on to tap investments in the services space which in the long run has greater employment potential than the manufacturing sector. An overseas investor has evinced interest to set up an ecosystem for tourism. This envisages grooming multi-skilled hospitality professionals at an institute. Skill development would be at the core of investment strategy.
In the pharmaceutical sector, there is a proposal for the development of wellness products. Tata Steel also has a proposal in logistics sector, where the developer intends to import material, repackage it and redistribute the cargo.
The fate of this string of investment proposals is still mired in uncertainty due to labour protests at Tata Steel's Gopalpur plant. Agitating locals, demanding jobs and compensation, have forcibly shut down the operations of Tata Steel's ferro-chrome plant since May 20 this year. The steel company is pinning hopes on the local administration to resolve the deadlock.
"We cannot provide jobs to all the affected people unless the investors come. We are already conducting a rehabilitation and resettlement exercise worth Rs 360 crore. At the end of the day, we are a listed company and we are responsible to our shareholders", said Misra.
The company said it has expanded the list of claimants seeking compensation from 946 to 1,800. While the original claimants were disbursed a compensation package of Rs 7 lakh per acre, the additional claimants are being paid at the rate of Rs 5 lakh per acre.
Undeterred by the stir, Tata Steel is going ahead with its marketing and promotional activities for the SEZ. It is setting its eyes on the mega industrial expo at Xiamen (China) that is likely to take place in September or October this year.
In the first phase, Tata Steel is aiming to firm up investments for 500 acres of land. "If there is peace on the ground, I can start work on infrastructure at the site", said Mishra.
Source: Business Standard
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