A firm backed by India’s Essar group, which has deep links with Russia, has now been roped in to build the United States’ largest steel plant. The announcement is tinged with irony, as it comes just a week after Trump signed an Act, allowing tariffs of up to 100 per cent on countries that buy Russian oil and gas.
The announcement: US to get largest-ever steel plant
On Wednesday (September 30), US President Donald Trump announced a $15 billion Mesabi Metallics steel complex in Iowa — the largest steel plant ever built in the country.
In a press release, the said the project will create 1,750 new, permanent jobs, support up to 6,000 construction jobs, and generate an estimated $95 billion in US economic output over the construction and the first decade of operations.
Who will build it?
Trump said on Wednesday that Mesabi Metallics will be “building the largest steel plant in American history”. It will be one of the largest plants in the world, and the largest in the US.
For starters, Mesabi Metallics is owned by The Essar Group, an Indian multinational conglomerate. The Essar Group was founded by Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia in 1969. The group christened Mesabi Metallics in 2017.
At the White House on Wednesday, Essar Group co-founder Ravi Ruia announced an $18 billion investment to build America’s largest steel plant in Iowa.
Mesabi Metallics also posted on social media that it is excited to announce the investment of $18 billion to build a 100% American steel supply chain. It said the project will link the company’s Minnesota iron ore mine to a brand new steel mill facility in lowa.
Mesabi Metallics’ iron ore mine on Minnesota’s Mesabi Iron Range is the first new iron ore mine built in the US in 50 years. The mine will produce Patriot Pellet, the company’s direct-reduction-grade (DR-grade) iron ore pellet engineered for modern electric arc furnace steelmaking – one of the highest-quality iron ore pellets made anywhere in the world, the company said in a .
Mesabi Metallics shared a breakdown of the investment as:
1. $15 billion investment in lowa
2. $3 billion investment in Minnesota
3. Over 6,000 construction jobs
4. 1,750 permanent jobs
5. $95 billion in total economic output during construction and first 10 years of operations.
6. Mined in Minnesota and manufactured in lowa to deliver the highest quality products for American families and businesses.
Who are Ravi, Shashi, Rewant Ruia?
While Shashi Ruia and Ravi Ruia are founders of The Essar Group, Rewant Ruia is the chairman of Mesabi Metallics. “We are a family business, and above all, we are builders,” Ravi Ruia said at White House while announcing a $18 billion investment in the US.
As per the information available online, Shashi Ruia was instrumental in driving the company’s growth and diversification. He served on various industry bodies and is known for his vision in infrastructure and industrial development. He died in 2024 at the age of 81.
Alongside Shashi, Ravi founded Essar and expanded its footprint globally. He played a key role in strategic decision-making and overseeing the group’s operations.
Rewant Ruia is the son of Ravi Ruia and is involved in Essar’s mining, steel, and retail sectors. He brings a global perspective and fresh ideas to the family business, focusing on greenfield expansions and acquisition opportunities, the says on its website.
What’s Ruia family’s net worth?
According to the company’s website, the Essar Group has grown into a global entity with an asset base of $9.6 billion and annual revenues of $15 billion.
On the M3M Hurun India Rich List 2026, Ravi Ruia and family appear with wealth estimated at
Meanwhile, Forbes’s 2021 data projected Shashi and Ravi Ruia’s net worth at $2.2 billion.
Links with Russia
Beyond its backing of Mesabi Metallics, Essar’s global portfolio includes interests in oil and gas, power generation, ports, and logistics.
The Essar Group has direct links with Nayara Energy, in which a Russian company has a stake. According to Forbes, the siblings, Ravi and Shashi, had concluded a long-pending deal in August 2017 to sell their Essar Oil assets to Russian oil-producer Rosneft for $13 billion.
The Esser Group, led by Shashi and Rabi Ruia, had founded Essar Oil Limited in 1989. Essar Oil was sold to a group backed by Russian oil major Rosneft and Trafigura-UCP consortium for $12.9 billion in 2017 as part of efforts to raise funds to settle $25 billion which it owed to Indian banks. It was later renamed as Nayara Energy.
Nayara Energy is now a company in which Rosneft owns a 49 percent stake, and United Capital Partners, a Russian asset management company, owns another 49 percent.
“This is not only Russia’s largest investment in India, but also the country’s largest FDI in the energy sector,” the company had said in a its .
Is Nayara under Western sanctions?
Yes. The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on Nayara in July last year as part of the broader 18th package of sanctions against Russian oil.
That banned the import of petroleum products processed using Russian crude oil and restricted the refinery’s access to EU shipping insurance, as well as financial and other services.
In July this year, Nayara Energy sold petroleum to Russia as Ukrainian attacks targeted oil refineries across the country, triggering a fuel crisis, Al Jazeera reported.