Bullish on India,world's largest steel maker ArcelorMittal on Friday said the country remains an "immediate" growth target for the company. "Immediate targets remain Brazil and India," ArcelorMittal Chairman and CEO Lakshmi Mittal said in a presentation to investors on company's annual investor day. Stating that steel demand would continue growing in China,he added there was a significant,broad-based growth in steel consumption beyond China as well. "We expect continued growth in steel consumption in the developing world," he said,adding approximately one-third of the company's shipments currently go to emerging markets. "We are already the No.1 steel producer in Brazil and Africa and the second largest in the CIS. We can leverage this platform for our capacity growth," he added. ArcelorMittal plans to set up a 6-mtpa steel mill in two phases,with a captive 750 MW power plant at an estimated investment of Rs 30,000 crore (USD 6.5 billion) in Karnataka. It had earlier announced its plan to invest over USD 10 billion each in Jharkhand and Orissa for setting up plants. "ArcelorMittal possesses core strengths that place the company in a strong position to respond to evolving market conditions. We remain committed to our plans for growth since our core projects are not dependent on strong economic conditions," Mittal said. Chief Finance Officer Aditya Mittal said that the company had received written approvals from its banks to extend USD four billion of credit facilities from a maturity in 2013 to 2015.
