With its steel mill project in the eastern Indian state of Orissa in suspension due to problems related to raw material linkage, South Korean steel major
POSCO is looking at other states in
India for investment opportunities possibly in joint venture with an Indian company, an official at
India's Ministry of Steel said on Wednesday, April 22.
The official said that
POSCO is interested in setting up a 3 million mt per year steel mill in Jharkhand and is in talks with Indian government-owned Steel Authority of
India Limited (SAIL) for a possible joint venture but negotiations are at a ‘very preliminary stage' and no details have been worked out yet. The final size of the plant could be decided only after raw material linkages are established and the steel company's decision to secure iron ore reserves through the proposed auction route adopted by the government in awarding raw material resources, he added.
Several years ago,
POSCO and SAIL initiated talks on construction of a steel mill adjacent to SAIL's existing steel mill at Bokaro in Jharkhand but no headway was made in relation to such an initiative.