Bhubaneswar, Sep 2 (IANS): ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) on Thursday announced the commissioning of a second 6 million tonne per annum (MTPA) pellet plant at Paradeep in Odisha.

With the commissioning of the second unit, the plant doubled its production capacity at AM/NS India's Paradeep complex to 12 million tonnes, the company said in a statement.

The expansion will make the pellet complex the largest single-location unit in India and take the company's national pelletisation capacity to 20 MTPA, it said.

AM/NS India CEO Dilip Oommen said, "The commissioning of our second pellet plant at Paradeep is an important milestone for AM/NS India, allowing us to contribute meaningfully to India's aim of achieving domestic steel production capacity of 300 MT in the coming decade."

"AM/NS India will continue investing in Odisha, a promising hub for Indian steel production, and we are also currently progressing plans for a greenfield steel plant in the state," he added.

"Paradeep's pellet plant II coming on stream significantly advances our capacity to produce superior quality direct reduced iron grade pellets for domestic steel production. It also supports AM/NS India's longer-term plans to grow its national steel production up to 30 MTPA," said AM/NS India COO Wim Van Gerven.

The company's national pellet production operations comprise 12 MTPA at Paradeep and 8 MTPA at Vishakhapatnam.