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Lloyds Metals aims to invest over ₹40,000 crore more in Gadchiroli
The law and order situation in the eastern Maharashtra district impacted by Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is improving, and attempts are essential to mainstream the youth, its managing director B Prabhakaran told PTI over the phone.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the guardian minister of the district, inaugurated a 90-km pipeline and a pellet plant built by the company in Gadchiroli earlier in the day.
"We have a ₹45,000 crore investment plan for the district, of which ₹5,000 crore has already been invested," Prabhakaran, who calls himself the 'managing director in residence', said.
When asked how it will fund the capital expenditure in Gadchiroli, Prabhakaran said it will depend on internal accruals and also raise fresh funds if need be.
He reminded that last year, it had raised over ₹4,000 crore from a qualified institutional placement of shares.
At present, the company's assets in the district include an iron ore mine in Surjagad, and the upcoming investments include a ₹15,000 crore 'beneficiation plant', having a capacity of 45 million tonnes per annum and ₹22,000 crore for a steel plant with a 4.5 million tonnes capacity, he added.
Prabhakaran said the company will be investing up to ₹5,000 crore per annum from here on, he said, adding that the overall employment generated by Lloyds will triple to 30,000 by the end of the investment cycle.
Things are "slowly changing" in the district, he said, adding that an already existing iron ore mine has been secured, using equipment of the kind used by the US in Afghanistan.
With a history of protests like the ones in Surjagad, Prabhakaran said the company is focusing on taking the local community, which explains investments in hospitals and schools locally.
He said nearly all the staff of the company have an equity stake in the company.
The concession for the mine was signed over 15 years ago, but operations began only after 2021, he said, blaming the Naxalite problem in the intervening time.
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