By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, October 26, 2018: Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) plans to increase the steel production capacity of its plant in Angul to 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2030.

“Once we achieve the full capacity of 6 mtpa, which we will do next year, then from 2021 we will embark on a new journey where we want to take the capacity from 6 mtpa to 20 mtpa by 2030,” JSPL chairman Naveen Jindal on Friday said

JSPL will infuse an additional investment of about Rs 50,000 crore for the expansion of the plant to meet the 20 mtpa production of finished steel.

Naveen met chief secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi and steel and mines secretary Raj Kumar Sharma here on Friday.

Significantly, the company will not raise any loan for the expansion and instead will rope in strategic partners and raise equity, Naveen said adding that the company is working on logistics and raw material challenges.

“Logistic and raw materials are challenges for us. We are working through all the challenges. We are hopeful that these challenges will be resolved in the coming months,” he added.

The JSPL chairman said India has ample availability of non-cooking coal. So, Coal India and its subsidiaries should enhance their production capacity to ensure availability of coal to the industries.

“We are buying the most expensive coal which erodes our competitiveness. Similarly, the iron price has more than doubled in India. There is no reason why the iron ore prices should be so high. We feel that the government should take steps so that the closed mines are reopened,” said Jindal.

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) plans to increase the steel production capacity of its plant in Angul to 20 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2030.