Chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee with L.N. Mittal at Writers’ Buildings. Picture by Sanjoy Chattopadhyaya

L.N. Mittal, the president & CEO of ArcelorMittal, spoke to The Telegraph in Calcutta on Sunday. Excerpts follow.

You are back in the city after three-and-a-half years. What is the first impression?

I feel very nostalgic whenever I come here. Calcutta is changing. The city looks cleaner. Lots of flyovers have come up. The roads have improved. You know I drove? When I got off from the airport last evening, I felt like coming back to my place. I told my driver that I will drive. I drove from the airport to Alipore. I could not resist.

Normally, I don’t drive during the day. It’s not safe. It was my son-in-law’s old Mercedes. I drove through the circuitous way through Rajarhat, then to Park Circus and took the flyover to Race Course and then Alipore. It was not difficult. I kept one car (which followed) in case I get lost. But I didn’t. (Laughs)

It’s good, you know. When you come to town and feel like driving — (it) talks about the quality of life. Traffic has improved. It’s more disciplined. People are not crossing the road everywhere. That is the first impression.

You went out today (Sunday), too?

Yes. I went to Salt Lake for some function. I went to St Xavier’s College, sat in my class which is Room No. 13. I was very emotional. St Xavier’s really taught me a lot. When I went to the college, I never thought I will come back there after 39 years. I never visited it again.

You love this city. But somehow you have not invested in the state and in Calcutta so far?

That’s very unfortunate. I feel very sad that I have not been able to make investments in the state as yet. I am telling my guys to explore opportunities here. We are going to set up an office. We have to do something here.

An ArcelorMittal office?

Yes. It will be an engineering office. It will be an engineering office space. Hundreds of engineers will work. We have to do something here.

Bengal has been seeing big investments in steel. But you are planning to set up large plants in Jharkahnd and Orissa. Is there a possibility that you could do some downstream unit here?

Quite possible. Quite possible. I don’t rule out the investment opportunity. We were going to send our team to study. Once we will have our office, a base, then they will scout for what opportunity is there to set up a processing unit. We want to do something. So, let us see. There could be old, closed-down coal mines. We may look into them. I will speak to the chief minister and find out if the government has any idea.

You are getting into oil and gas. Bengal is developing a chemical hub at Haldia. Would you be interested?

I don’t know what kind of opportunity is there. We have a joint venture with HPCL for building a refinery at Bhatinda. I was talking to (Union) petroleum minister Murli Deora the other day. He was telling me about it. I will see. We will ask our joint venture team to study. We are also doing a refinery at Visakhapatnam. We have to see if there is any extension to that.

Are you happy with the progress of steel projects in India?

I wish we could do it faster. We have committed $25 billion in two projects. We are very eager to kick off. We have spent a lot of resources already. Many of our people, drawn from all over the world, are here, doing work, readying the right technology, product mix, layout. After doing so much, I really want the actual groundwork to start. Only then there will be momentum. I really wish it is faster.

These projects will come up only when there are iron ore linkages. I really get worried that every state government is signing so many MoUs. They are getting hundreds of applications, signing in dozens. It should not become volume of MoUs… the state governments should choose the right partner. They should take only those who they believe will complete the steel projects.

Our commitment is strong. I am very excited personally about the projects, if I can bring ArcelorMittal to India being an Indian passport holder, an Indian citizen.

Which of the two, Jharkhand or Orissa, will come up first?

I don’t know. Someday, I see Orissa is ahead, the other day Jharkhand moves ahead. It’s like a seesaw. We are fully committed to do both projects. Situation is not clear. Whosoever works faster, gives linkages and approvals, we will start the work.

Have you set any target for yourself for these two projects?

I don’t want to do that and feel frustrated and disappointed all the time. I told my guys to work, be focused. Don’t look at others.

There has been a comment that only those companies that have greenfield experience should be given preference on mine allocation when it comes to new projects…

See, when we were fighting for ArcelorMittal merger, there were many comments. These comments have no meaning to me. These do not deter our conviction. Those came out of people’s ignorance about us. We are focused on the work. Everyone knows ArcelorMittal is the most experienced steel company of the world. We have the best technology and management. We have done so many projects across the globe. No one can deny this that there cannot be any better partner for the state or the country than ArcelorMittal.

Does such comments make your conviction stronger?

These do not excite me. I ignore them. That’s what I have done in the past.

What if you do not get Chiria iron ore mine in Jharkhand? Does that mean the project is off?

We have to make the investment sustainable and viable. We need resources for that. All should be available. We can’t do such investment and not have iron ore and other infrastructure like rail, water etc.

How long will you wait?

Everyone likes us to come, be it at the Centre or state. There is a desire. I could see there is a commitment from the central government and the Prime Minister. As an investor, I can say that no single company has made such big commitment, $25 billion, apart from our oil and gas business.

What is your vision in oil and gas?

We want to take small steps, not go fast. It all started with how to help India get energy security. This came up during one of our meeting with former oil minister Mani Shankar Aiyar. We are working in many countries where oil is there. So I wanted to do something. The catalyst was India’s energy security. We now have something in Nigeria, Kazakhstan. This is not priority for us.

A few years back, you said the world should have a few companies with 100 million tonnes. Your group has touched 100 million tonnes, but others are yet to cross 50 million tonnes.

For ArcelorMittal, volume is not important. We want to create value in every sphere, in mining, technology, product development or distribution. That is the focus. But if we could get opportunity to add more capacity, we will do it. But we don’t want to add capacity for the sake of it.

Fortunately, after we merged, lot of companies are inspired to become 100 million tonnes. They are taking steps in the direction of consolidation. I see a momentum.

You are often mentioned as the richest Indian on Earth. What does this enormous wealth mean to you?

Well, I consider wealth is a means to create more wealth for all stakeholders of the society. To grow our business and create wealth for everyone associated with that.