NMDC says Karnataka steel plant proposal is on back burner.

State-owned NMDC has put the proposal to set up a steel plant in Karnataka on the back burner for at least next two years as the miner's focus is on completing the ongoing project in Chhattisgarh, NMDC Chairman and Managing Director C S Verma said.

He said he is confident of completing the Nagarnar (Chhattisgarh) steel plant by the end of 2015 even as three auxiliary packages worth Rs. 1,000 crore are left to be awarded.

'There is no progress on that (Karnataka steel plant proposal). That MoU (with Severstal) is over by the lapse of time. First, we have to complete our ongoing Nagranar steel plant. Then only we will see any other investment in the other steel plants,' Verma told PTI during his recent visit.

NMDC had inked an MoU with Russia's second largest steel maker Severstal in late 2010 for an initial 3 mtpa capacity plant in Karnataka with around Rs. 16,000 crore investment.

ET