‘POSCO-India Private Limited’ incorporated at Registrar of Companies, Orissa
Soung-Sik Cho appointed as Managing Director and Tae-Hyun Jeong as Deputy Managing Director.
Bhubaneswar, August 30, 2005: Following its plan and commitment to set up an Indian company by August 2005, POSCO, the fifth largest steel company in the world, has incorporated its Indian subsidiary POSCO-India Private Limited with the Registrar of Companies, Orissa, under the Companies Act 1956.
POSCO-India Private Limited has now started functioning from its office with Mr. Soung-Sik Cho, Senior Executive Vice President of POSCO, now additionally given the task of Managing Director, mostly operating at the Headquarter in Seoul, Korea and Mr.Tae-Hyun Jeong appointed as the Deputy Managing Director of POSCO-India Private Limited, stationing in Orissa to control and operate actual functioning of the role of MD of the Company.
A total of about 80 people are employed to carry out the task of the India operations, of which 50 Koreans are based in Korea & India and 30 Indians are being recruited in India within this year. The first phase of the project will operate with an authorized capital of US$ 1.2 billion, which will be invested in the company’s 3 million tonne capacity steel plant.
POSCO is also outsourcing to Indian companies Soil & Penetration Test (SM Consultant), Minor Port Development Plan (CES), Water Supply Plan (WAPCOS), Environmental Impact Analysis (Dasturco & NIO), Township Planning (C.P. Kukreja), Basic Mining Master Plan (Dasturco) and Basic Railway Plan(Rites). Site Selection Study was already completed by Mecon.
Elaborating on POSCO’s close set of actions planned for the project, Deputy Managing Director, Mr. Jeong said, “Our immediate priorities are resettlement and rehabilitation program, mine development and the successful completion of the feasibility report, of which the detailed study on water, rail, road, electricity and other related issues will be completed by November this year.” “POSCO-India will also do its best efforts to contribute to the regional community and the economic development of the country”, he further added.
POSCO’s Indian steel plant project is the largest Foreign Direct Investment project in the country and is a significant part of the company’s strategy to enhance its global competitiveness. It is seen by POSCO as a win-win initiative for both itself and India. POSCO will build a 3 million tonne capacity steel plant in Orissa, during the first phase of its project between 2007 and 2010 and expand the final production volume to 12 million tonnes. The investment proposed is to the tune of US$12 billion (Rs 51,000 crore), including an investment of US$ 3 billion during the first phase. Also, in order, to study India’s economic trends and growth in sectors like shipbuilding and construction, the company has already opened its brach office of POSCO Reserarch Instutute in New Delhi.
About POSCO
Founded in 1968 and headquartered in the southeastern port city of Pohang, POSCO operates two of the world’s premier steel works--the Pohang and Gwangyang works. The Pohang works produces crude steel of 13 million tons and specializes in small-lot production of a broad range of products, including hot-rolled coil and cold-rolled sheet, plate, wire rod, electrical steel, and stainless steel. The Gwangyang works focuses on mass-production of limited high-demand products such as hot and cold rolled sheet and produces crude steel of 17 million tons. POSCO’s products are shipped to over 60 countries around the globe, satisfying some of the world’s most quality-sensitive customers.
POSCO employs 19,377 people and approximately 70% of its share is owned by foreign investors. POSCO produced 30.2 million tones of crude steel and generated sales of 19,792 billion KRW (USD18.96 billion dollars) and net earnings of 3,826 billion KRW (USD 3.67 billion dollars) in 2004.
India will derive significant benefits from the POSCO project once it is functional, including job creation of 48,000 jobs in the region and 467,000 man-years of employment during the construction phase. Foreign exchange inflows of US$23 billion are projected, with taxes and royalty incomes of US$20.3 billion for the central government and US$5.1 billion for the Orissa government.
