Posco Completes Construction of First Indian Plant

South Korea's Posco (IW 1000/65), the world's third-largest steelmaker by output, said it has completed construction of its first steel mill in India.

The mill in the west-central state of Maharashtra is capable of producing 450,000 tons of hot galvanized steel plate per year for cars and household goods in India and other countries.

Maharashtra has automotive plants run by General Motors Co. (IW 1000/13), Volkswagen AG (IW 1000/10), Tata Motors Ltd. (IW 1000/185) and Mahindra.

In the same state, Posco plans to open a 300,000-ton electric steel-plate facility by October 2013 and a 1.8 million-ton cold-rolled mill in June 2014.

The company also hopes to start work in the second half of this year on its long-delayed plant in Orissa state on the east coast, a spokeswoman told AFP.

The $12 billion project, which would be India's biggest foreign investment, has been the focus of protests by locals and rights groups since it was first mooted in 2005.

Locals say the plant would deprive them of their traditional forest-based livelihoods and cause lasting environmental damage.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012