ArcelorMittal confirmed that Indian National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved on March 8th that ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp. (NSSMC) jointly acquired Essar Steel which had debt problems.

In the past few decades, ArcelorMittal was constantly being hampered by trying to enter the steel market dominated by Indian companies, and this acquisition was the first large-scale participation of foreign companies in the Indian steel market, meaning that the Indian steel industry was officially opened to foreign investors.

Essar Steel is one of the top companies in India’s 12 largest debt bankruptcies. JSW Steel and the mining group Vedanta Resources also participated in the bidding for Essar Steel, and the bidding was finally awarded by ArcelorMittal.

ArcelorMittal will pay a total of Rs 420 billion to pay off all debts of Essar Steel, and will invest an additional Rs 80 billion to guarantee the company's operations and profits.