LNM says India hasn't been able to handle surge in big investments

NEW DELHI: L N Mittal successfully fought off French and Spanish governments’ resistance to buy Arcelor in 2006, but on Thursday, the Indian establishment came in for a stinging attack from the London-based steel tycoon for its inability to facilitate his multi-billion-dollar steel projects at home—nearly five years after these were conceived.

In a rare display of frustration at the tardy progress in his projects in India, the billionaire businessman pinned the blame on the country’s inability to move things. “The entire country is to be blamed for the delay in execution of the projects,” Mr Mittal, among the world’s top 10 richest people, told reporters here.

And in venting his ire, he joins a long list of business groups, notably the Tatas, Sterlite and South Korea’s Posco, that have all seen their projects get mired in problems related to land acquisition, environmental clearances, red tape and lack of infrastructure. “I am unhappy with the progress achieved so far on the proposed projects in Jharkhand and Orissa,” Mr Mittal said.

The CEO and majority shareholder of Luxembourg-based ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steelmaker, announced plans in 2005 to set up a $10-billion steel plant in Jharkhand following Posco’s plan to build a steel mill for $12 billion in Orissa, which could have made it the biggest foreign direct investment in India. In 2006, Mr Mittal said he would build a similar plant in Orissa.

But none of these plans has progressed as government departments dither and locals accuse these companies of strong-arm tactics in grabbing land they have lived on for centuries without adequate compensation.

After years of waiting, Mr Mittal rationalises that the problems may be due to the country’s inability to handle a surge of big-ticket investment proposals, fuelled by an unprecedented interest in investing in India.