Reliance Infra eyes India steel plant - official
RANCHI, India, Sept 16 (Reuters) - India's Reliance Infrastructure (RLIN.BO) has proposed investing 400 billion rupees ($8.6 billion) to build a steel plant with a capacity of 12 million tonnes in the eastern state of Jharkhand, a senior state official said on Tuesday.
"We have received the proposal from Anil Ambani Group. It is still under process," K.K. Khandelwal, industry secretary of the Jharkhand state government, told Reuters, referring to the firm's founder, billionaire Anil Ambani.
The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has interests in telecoms, financial services, power and infrastructure.
A spokesman for Reliance Infrastructure declined comment on the matter.
An abundance of iron ore and coal, key raw materials for producing steel, has attracted a string of new steel investments in the eastern Indian states of Orissa and Jharkhand.
ArcelorMittal (ISPA.AS), the world's top steelmaker, has said it would invest $20 billion over the next 10 years to build two steel plants to produce about 25 million tonnes of steel.
But Arcelor's chairman, Lakshmi Mittal, said last week in New Delhi the cost could rise by about 50 percent because of delays in getting the necessary approvals and mine allocations.
South Korea's POSCO (005490.KS) wants to invest $12 billion in a 12 million tonnes steel plant in Orissa, but the project has been hit by protests by farmers opposed to losing their land. ($1=46.7 rupees) (Reporting by Nityanand Shukla, Editing by Mark Williams)
