BANGALORE: In what could be a big blow to the state’s efforts to woo investors ahead of the second edition of the Global Investors Meet (GIM-2012), Arcelor Mittal has decided to put their “India projects” on hold for another few years.Laxmi Mittal, Chief Executive of Arcelor Mittal, who spoke to international news agencies in Luxemburg after their company’s annual shareholder’s meet, is reported to have cited bureaucratic delays as one of the main reasons for the decision.The Karnataka government, which boasted of getting the biggest steel producer to set up a 6 million ton plant in the state, will now have to work up a new strategy to bring in investors for the next edition of GIM to be held in June this year.Large and Medium Industries Minister Murugesh Nirani, on the other hand has been banking on GIM 2012 to get investments worth over `5 lakh crore.The Karnataka government went out an “arm and limb” to facilitate over 4,000 acres in Bellary for the proposed `20,000 crore steel plant, amid opposition from land owners and farmers.While the land acquisition itself had faced opposition, Mittal’s decision is likely to influence the decision of other big investors; both signed and potential.He reportedly said the company’s focus of investment was more into mining and iron ore.Arcelor Mittal had also evinced interest in setting up steel plants in Jharkand and Odisha.According to Karnataka Udyog Mitra, out of the 389 MoUs that were signed in GIM 2010, only 17 have been implemented while they claim that effective steps have been taken towards implementing 210 MoUs.It also states that there are over 162 projects where effective steps are yet to be taken.
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