New Delhi: JSW Steel plans to set up a five million tonne green field steel plant in the US at an investment of one billion (about Rs 4,000 crore) to tap the world's largest automobile market.
"We are actively planning to set up a green field steel plant in the USA, capable of manufacturing 5 MT of cold-rolled steel, to cater primarily to the automobile market there," PTI quoted JSW Steel Vice-Chairman and Managing Director Sajjan Jindal as saying.
He said semi-finished steel from the proposed West Bengal steel plant would be shipped to the US facility to be processed further and sold to the buyers.
Denying reports that JSW was planning to go buy a company in the US, Jindal said he opposed such acquisition as this could invite pension liabilities, outdated machinery and unionised labour.
Jindal said he was scouting for a location close to the port to ferry semi-finished steel from India.
On being asked why he favoured USA for setting up a steel plant, Jindal said America consumed around 135 million tonnes of steel. Of this, it produced 95 MT and imported the rest.
The JSW Vice-Chairman also said he was interested for setting up similar plant in Europe also and the possible locations were Spain, Portugal, Italy and Turkey.
He said his company was exploring the possibility of setting up an auto component manufacturing unit in the country. This would be located near the automobile hub and talks were on with the European experts in this connection.
He also set his company was also toying with the idea of seeking SEZ status for the proposed 10 MT West Bengal plant.
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