After South Korean steel maker POSCO, world's top steelmaker ArcelorMittal also declared that it would scrap a planned steel plant in Odisha due to red tape delays.

Vijay Bhatnagar, chief executive officer of ArcelorMittal India & China, held long delays in acquiring required land and an iron ore mine responsible for its decision to scrap the project.

Announcing the decision, Bhatnagar said, "The delays relating to land acquisition and allocation of captive iron ore blocks means (the Odisha) project is no longer viable."

On the other hand, an Odisha government official argued that ArcelorMittal hadn't deposited the obligatory 10 per cent value of the 8,000-acre land it wanted to acquire.

ArcelorMittal's proposed steel plant in Odisha would have annual production capacity of 12 million tones (MT).

The Lakshmi Mittal-owned company's decision to scrap the planned steel plant came just a day after POSCO announced its decision to ditch a 6 MTA steel plant in Karnataka due to delays in obtaining rights to an iron ore mine and opposition from local people.

POSCO and ArcelorMittal's decision to scrap steel projects is a big blow to the union government, which has been struggling to attract foreign investments.