Abu Dhabi-based International Holding Company (IHC) and India’s Adani Group have signed an initial agreement with the government of the state of Odisha to invest about 2.1 trillion rupees ($25 billion) to develop 14 projects.
The proposed portfolio includes metal downstream industries, slurry pipelines, critical minerals and rare earths, chemicals and petrochemical derivatives, renewable energy equipment, health care, industrial and sports infrastructure, tourism and skills development, the companies said in a joint statement on Thursday.
The projects will potentially employ more than 8.6 million people. The announcement came during the Odisha chief minister’s visit to the UAE.
It comes after the two companies in July signed an initial pact to invest $11.5 billion to develop an aluminium project in Odisha.
International Resources Holding (IRH), an IHC group company through 2PointZero, and Adani Enterprises Limited (AEL) signed the initial pact with the Indian state of Odisha for the integrated greenfield aluminium project. AEL and IHC are to form a joint venture with a 50 per cent stake each for the proposed project.
It will include a four million metric tonnes per annum (mmtpa) alumina refinery, a two mmtpa aluminium smelter, a 4,000 megawatt captive power plant and a one mmtpa downstream manufacturing park.
The project will be developed in two phases, with investments of about $6.9 million in phase one and $4.6 million in phase two.
The two sides have now advanced the consideration of potential sites for the integrated aluminium project, with land proposed for the alumina refinery in Rayagada district and for the aluminium smelter in Sundargarh district, the statement on Thursday said.
IHC, one of the most valuable holding companies in the Middle East, operates through more than 1,300 subsidiaries, with a presence in technology, infrastructure, financial services and the consumer sector.
In January, IHC's chief executive and managing director Syed Basar Shueb told The National India was a key focus of the country's global investment strategy. He outlined a broad portfolio of investments across the energy, industrial and property sectors, underlining India’s role as a strategic rather than an opportunistic allocation.
“We are investing in renewable solar power projects. We are investing in battery solution. We are investing in nuclear, we are investing in aluminium smelter and real estate development,” he said at the time.
Earlier this year, IHC Group company ePointZero entered into a joint venture with Adani Green Energy to develop renewable energy projects across India.
IRH is a global mine-to-market platform investing in minerals critical to the energy transition and technological advancement. Its model covers upstream exploration, midstream processing and downstream distribution. It targets minerals such as copper, cobalt, nickel, manganese, graphite, rare-earth metals, tin, tantalum and tungsten.
