Bharat Forge signed a MoU with the West Bengal Government to set up a steel plant with an annual production of 1 million tonne. Bharat will invest Rs 6,500 crore ($1.63 billion USD) through Kalyani Steel, part of the parent company Kalyani Group.
The site has not been finalized, but the project will include a 500 MW power plant, and will be built around Durgapur or Salboni.
"We were no present in this part of the country till now and have been negotiating with the State Government for the last one and half years for this project," said Bharat Forge executive director Amit B. Kalyani. "Once the location for the project is identified, we will work towards a speedy realization."
The plant will produce steel bars and other steel components for shipbuilding, power plants, railways, automobiles, cement, and mining industies located in the eastern part of the country.
Bharat Forge is also in talks with the State to act as "co-developers" in creating a manufacturing cluster for the steel industry in the state. "Other companies, including ancillary and component units, can build their factories around our plant and make use of the infrastructure facilities through supply chain linkages," added Kalyani.