GFG Alliance restarts Adhunik operations

Plans to double capacity

Liberty Steel, part of Sanjeev Gupta-owned GFG Alliance, has restarted the first phase of production at Adhunik Metaliks Ltd and Zion Steel following the acquisition of the steel businesses in February 2020.

The restart has been achieved in six months following intensive work to prepare the site for their return to steelmaking operations after the previous owner fell into administration, the group said. Adhunik is an integrated steel plant located at Chadrihariharpur near Rourkela in Odisha.

The plant has sponge iron facility, blast furnace and electric arc furnace (EAF) steel making capability with 0.5 million tons a year capacity, ferro–alloy plant and a 34MW captive power plant.

The sites produce alloy steel products for the automotive, energy, engineering and oil & gas sectors besides participating in the commodity market of sponge iron and billets.

The new management has plans to raise capacity to 1 million tons within the next three to four years’ time.

Production restart has restored nearly 1500 jobs, the group said in a release.

“It’s a proud moment for me today, as we have been able to deliver what we promised to all stakeholders – Adhunik is on its way to becoming fully operational. It is five years since I started my industrial journey with the restart of operations at our first steelworks in Newport, UK. Here we have shown the same commitment to industrial communities by retaining and paying local workers as we start-up up operations and bring the Adhunik and Zion steel works back to life.