Russia's VTB will submit an independent bid for Essar Steel India Ltd., The Times of India reported Oct. 8, citing unnamed sources.

VTB initially led the Numetal Ltd. consortium in a bid to acquire the debt-laden Indian steelmaker but decided to go solo after the Indian Supreme Court allowed the company to join the bidding war despite being under U.S. sanctions.

The SNL Article, issued early October, gave Numetal and ArcelorMittal two weeks to clear their dues before resubmitting their bids. According to the report, Numetal's outstanding dues totaled 490 billion Indian rupees.

Instead of settling that, VTB, through its Crinium Bay subsidiary, will buy out its Numetal consortium partners Indo International Trading, TPE and JSW Steel Ltd., a shareholder of Numetal in its step-down Indian subsidiary, to proceed with the solo bid.

The Numetal consortium had offered to match ArcelorMittal's bid of 420 billion rupees.

JSW Steel may also make a solo bid for Essar Steel, the report said.

As of Oct. 5, US$1 was equivalent to 74.03 Indian rupees.