Bhubaneswar: JSW Steel is set to sign a joint venture agreement with Japan’s JFE Steel Corporation on April 24, committing a total of Rs 30,000 crore to expand capacity at the Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd (BSPL) facility in Odisha’s Sambalpur.
According to official sources, the JSW-JFE partnership will involve equal investments of Rs 15,000 crore from each company. The expansion is expected to increase BSPL’s current capacity of around 4 MTPA to over 10 MTPA, enhancing production of advanced steel products. This builds on earlier steps, including the transfer of BSPL’s steel business into JSW Sambalpur Steel Limited and JFE’s phased equity acquisition leading to a 50:50 ownership structure under JSW Kalinga Steel Limited.
This follows closely on the heels of a landmark JV pact signed with South Korea’s POSCO for a new 6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) integrated steel plant in Dhenkanal, involving another Rs 35,000 crore.
The POSCO JV, formalised on Monday at the India-Korea Business Summit in New Delhi during South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s visit, will see a 50:50 partnership through JSW’s wholly-owned subsidiary Saffron Resources Private Limited. The greenfield project targets high-grade flat steel for the automotive and other high-value sectors. It is envisioned as part of a twin-campus setup spanning Dhenkanal and Keonjhar districts, where additional land parcels, approximately 900 acres in Dhenkanal and 2,200 acres in Keonjhar, are available, with the government working to allocate more, according to Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, Hemant Sharma.
This marks POSCO’s formal re-entry into Odisha after shelving a much larger 12 MTPA project proposed in Jagatsinghpur, from which it exited in 2017. “We are very happy to announce that Posco is returning to Odisha,” Sharma told reporters, adding that JSW is simultaneously pursuing steel plant plans across Dhenkanal and Patna in Keonjhar district.
An MoU for a 5-million tonnes per annum steel plant in Keonjhar was signed on the first day of ‘Utkarsh Odisha-Make in Odisha Conclave’ in January 2025, in the presence of the CM and Sajjan Jindal in Bhubaneswar.
