The government is betting that a deep discount for this week's $2.6 billion share sale in NMDC, India's largest iron ore miner, revives interest in a divestment programme that has thus far generated uneven interest.

Steel sector is expected to grow 6-9 per cent in 2010 on higher demand from the real estate, construction and automobile sectors, the finance ministry said in a report on Thursday.

Tata Steel, the world's No. 8 steelmaker, posted its first consolidated quarterly profit in four quarters and said reviving global demand would further boost earnings in the three months to March.

Tata Steel Ltd, the world's No.8 steelmaker by output, glided past forecasts with quarterly profit more than doubling at its Indian operations on strong demand from the auto and construction sectors.

Steel Authority of India Ltd hopes to improve output and sales in the March quarter as demand from automobile and construction sectors picks up, after the company posted its first quarterly profit rise in five.

The world's leading steelmakers Arcelor Mittal and POSCO have plans for $14 billion of new investment in India, despite a history of delays in their existing projects.

No. 1 global steelmaker ArcelorMittal may consider shifting the location of its steel projects within India, Chairman Lakshmi Mittal said on Thursday.

South Korean steelmaker POSCO has received final approval to acquire forest land needed for its long-delayed $12 billion India project, a company spokesman said on Friday.

ArcelorMittal, the world's biggest steelmaker, could cut 10,000 jobs worldwide next year to boost productivity and reduce general expenses by around $500 million, French newspaper Les Echos said on Monday.

Tata Steel denied a newspaper report it was in talks to raise 50 billion rupees ($1.1 billion) in equity and an equal amount in debt, saying its board had not passed any such resolution.

Tata Steel will start constructing a 6-million-tonne steel plant in Orissa from next month, its Managing Director H.M. Nerurkar said on Saturday.

POSCO, the world's No.4 steelmaker, reported its quarterly operating profit halved but gave a full-year profit target that implies a recovery in the fourth quarter on healthier demand and lower costs.

Tata Steel Ltd, the world's eighth-largest steel maker, said on Wednesday steel sales from its Indian operations rose 19 percent in July-September from a year earlier to 1.46 million tonnes.

ArcelorMittal, the world's top steelmaker, has no plans to exit its planned steel projects in India, television channel NDTV Profit cited the company as saying on Monday.

ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, expects steel demand to recover next year, but the industry is in for a bumpy ride in 2010, its chairman told the Financial Times in an interview.

Steel company ArcelorMittal is close to pulling out of a $20 billion plan to build two steel plants in India due to difficulties buying land, its chairman and main owner, Lakshmi Mittal, told The Financial Times.

ArcelorMittal, the world's top steelmaker, expects growth to be slow and progressive, its chairman and chief executive Lakshmi Mittal told the Wall Street Journal in an interview.

India's leading iron ore producer Sesa Goa slipped, Friday, to close 5.68 percent down at Rs.256.80 after the company said it plans to seek shareholders' approval next month to raise up to Rs.6000 crore in equity or debt.

India's state-run National Aluminium Co Ltd, plans a foray into the copper and coal businesses as it looks for ways to diversify, a senior company official told Reuters on Monday.