NMDC eyes Rs 10,000 crore from stake sale in Nagarnar plant

State-owned iron ore miner NMDC is looking at garnering Rs 8,000-10,000 crore from sale of its 50 per cent stake in the upcoming three million tonne per annum steel plant in Chhattisgarh to a strategic partner.

The company intends the partner to bring in necessary technologies capable of producing high-end steel products like CRGO, CRNO and auto-garde steels which India mostly relies on imports to meet the domestic demand, a Steel Ministry source said on Tuesday.

"Since, NMDC is currently a pure-play miner, it has been felt necessary to bring in a partner which can produce those types of steel. It has already sought expression of interest (EOI) from interested parties and the response so far has been very encouraging," the source said.

Work on NMDC's steel plant, estimated to cost Rs 16,000 crore, at Nagarnar in Chhattisgarh is almost half way through.

The project is slated to start production within the next couple of years.

The source said the state-run firm would like to partner with a foreign company, having good reputation in the world steel market and sufficient experience of running steel mills.

Candidature of the local firms like Tata Steel, SAIL, JSW Steel, RINL, Jindal Steel and Power, Essar Steel would also be accepted, but keeping in view the target products in mind, many may not remain in contention in the last lap, where only 2-3 firms would be called for financial negotiation after seeing presentation of all the participants.

"Following presentations, an expert committee would take stock of the merits and demerits of the participants and call only two to three firms for financial negotiation," he said.

The company which would ensure uninterrupted coking coal supply would be given preference, he said.