Four years after scooping up ESL Steel Limited (Electrosteel Steels Limited) to make a big splash in the steel industry, Vedanta Limited (NSEI:VEDL) (Vedanta Group) has decided to sell business to focus on its core mining and industrial businesses and deleverage the balance sheet which had a debt of $11.7 billion at March-end, said people with knowledge of the matter. The group has approached steel companies such as ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AMNS), Tata Steel Limited (BSE:500470), JSW Group and Jindal Steel & Power Limited (NSEI:JINDALSTEL), and a select group of financial investors, said the people. Top executives like ArcelorMittal Chief Executive Officer Aditya Mittal have also visited the site along with Vedanta Group officials in recent weeks, they said.

Vedanta Group said it did not want to comment on market speculation. ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel and JSW declined to comment. “We don't have any acquisitions under evaluation currently,” Tata Steel Chief Financial Officer Koushik Chatterjee told ET.

Mails sent to JSPL did not generate a response till press time.