The proposed plant to be built by the joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel would have annual production capacity of 12 million tonnes, the state government of Odisha said in a statement. ArcelorMittal, which is controlled by billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, has previously tried to set up a steel plant in Odisha.

It had to scrap that original plan for a 12 million-tonne-a-year steel plant after the company failed to acquire the requisite land for the facility and failed to secure approval for an iron ore mine that would provide raw materials.

Other industrial ventures have struggled to take off due to bureaucratic delays that have undermined India's investment appeal and slowed growth in Asia's third-largest economy.

(Reporting by Reporting by Jatindra Dash and Mayank Bhardwaj; Editing by Edmund Blair)