The union steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan is set to inaugurate an integrated steel hub encompassing Odisha, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Northern Andhra Pradesh, that aims to attract investment of nearly $70 billion in the steel sector and spur economic growth across eastern India. Part of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Purvodaya’ initiative for focused development of eastern states, the project will essentially focus on three key elements.
This include, capacity addition through easing the setup of greenfield steel plants; development of steel clusters near integrated steel plants as well as demand centres and transformation of logistics and utilities infrastructure in the eastern region.
Government estimates suggest capacity addition in the steel hub would entail capital investments of over $70 billion and lead to an incremental Gross State Domestic Product of over $35 billion through steel alone, besides creating over 2.5 million jobs across the steel value chain in the region.