The JSW Group plans to set up a 10 million tonne per annum (mtpa) green steel plant at Salav village of the Raigad district in Maharashtra at an investment of around Rs 50,000 to Rs 60,000 crore over a period of four years, JSW Group Chairman Sajjan Jindal officially announced at an event in Mumbai.

The green steel plant will export its products to Europe, which is in the process of imposing Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), Jindal said at the centenary year celebration of the Indian Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

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“We will set up a separate steel plant which will be a 10 million tonnes per annum steel plant only for green steel which will be exported to Europe,” Jindal said.

He said the plant is part of the brownfield expansion and will entail an investment of Rs 50,000-Rs 60,000 crore over a period of three to four years.

The plant will be based on natural gas to start with, but it will have the technology to switch to hydrogen as and when zero carbon steel is needed, Jindal said.

JSW Green Steel was incorporated in February 2024 to set up a 4 million tonne per annum (MTPA) integrated green steel plant as part of the company’s plan to reduce its carbon footprint.

The European Union’s CBAM rules have been operational since 2023, though the full financial implications will come into effect from January 1, 2026. Under CBAM, the EU will impose carbon-related tariffs on imports of carbon-intensive goods, including steel, cement and fertilisers.

Jindal stated that the Indian steel sector needs to be protected from the menace of foreign steel dumping, especially from China. “The government is very vigilant about this and the recommendation for putting a safeguard duty has been made. In a few days, I think, this safeguard duty will be in place,” Jindal said.

Jindal said that for the Indian steel industry, which is still growing, steelmakers need to make enough money to be able to invest back into the business and expand, but China’s steel industry is mature, is mostly state-owned and no longer needs a surplus.

“They (China) can sell at any cost whereas we have to make profits to then redeploy that money to expand our capacity. India requires close to 20 million tonne new steel every year which requires close to 20 billion US dollar investment. India needs that kind of investment (for steel) year-on-year,” Jindal said.