The state has so far cleared 40 proposals in the steel sector. The state has a capacity to produce 45 million tonnes of steel per annum, Murugesh R Nirani, minister for large and medium industries, said.

“Our aim is to encourage value addition in the steel sector. Henceforth, we will allot iron ore mines to only those who will manufacture value-added products and sell finished products. There will be no more exports from the state,” he told reporters here today.

Some of the new investment proposals cleared by the state recently include ArcelorMittal, Tata Metaliks, Surya Roshni, Bhushan Steel and expansion project of Jindal Steel among others. The state government would sign a memorandum of understanding with these firms during the GIM on June 3 and June 4, Nirani said.

Presently, Karnataka is exporting around 45 million tonnes of iron ore annually and the revenues from this to the state by way of royalty and surcharge is about Rs 400 crore.

“We have reached the peak and cannot take any more proposals in the steel sector. Even if Posco comes forward, we have no place for them,” he added.

V P Baligar, principal secretary, department of industries and commerce said, the state would sign MoUs with ArcelorMittal, Shell India, Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group, Lafarge, Tata Metaliks, Tata Elxsi, Birla Group, Zuari, Infosys, Wipro, Jindal, HAL, BEML, HPCL and Dynamatic Technologies among others during the forthcoming global investors meet on June 3 and June 4. In all, 400 MoUs will be signed during the two days of the event.

He said, nearly 2,500 investors from all over the world would be attending the event, which will be held at Bangalore Palace Grounds.

“This is a crucial event for the growth of Karnataka and we are expecting a strike rate of 60 per cent with most projects implemented over the next 2-4 years. To achieve this we have taken many steps like creation of land bank, manpower training, creation of industrial corridors and setting up of a single window agency to expedite the investment process in the state,” Nirani said.

Sourced from www.business-standard.com