India’s ministry of steel has asked the government of the eastern state of Odisha to reserve an iron ore block for allocation to state-run steel producer Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the Indian government informed parliament on Thursday, April 7.
The minister of steel, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, said that in view of various parliamentary committees recommending allocation of a captive iron ore mine to RINL, the Odisha government has been asked to reserve an iron ore asset in the Keonjhar district for preferential allocation to the steel producer.
RINL, which operates a 7.3 million mt per year capacity steel mill in the southern port town of Vishakhapatnam, is one of the few steel producers in the country which does not have any captive raw material source.
Significantly, the Indian government has already commenced the process of privatization of RINL, aiming to divest its entire equity holding in the company to a private investor.