For more than a decade, Lakshmi Mittal , chairman and CEO of ArcelorMittal, has been trying to get a foothold in his homeland after creating a global steel empire from Kazakhstan to Brazil. Born in Kolkata where his father ran a steel business, Mittal started out with a steel factory in Indonesia and went on to create the world's largest steel-making company.Since 2005, ArcelorMittal has been trying to set up greenfield capacities first in Jharkhand, then Orissa and then even as late as 2010 signed an MoU with the Karnataka government for a plant. But none of his efforts fructified. Bureaucratic delays and problems with acquisition forced an exasperated Mittal to look elsewhere.Now once again, Mittal has found a chance to build in his homeland. ArcelorMittal is one of the two bidders for debt-laden Essar Steel, which has been put on the block by its lenders. The bid by ArcelorMittal, as that of the other bidder Numetal, were considered ineligible by the resolution professional as they were seen to be in violation of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code. Now, lenders of Essar Steel have decided to give both the bidders time to revise their bids and comply with eligibility criteria."I was born and grew up in India and have always remained close to the country of my birth and citizenship. We don’t yet have a steel-making presence in India. The country has been attractive to us for a long time – the outlook for steel demand growth makes it a strategic market,” Mittal has said.With the dynamics of the Indian steel sector fast evolving, much of the lost lustre is back with spreads rising 50% in the past one year, argues sectoral pundits. China’s capacity utilization continues to remain stretched on the back of environment related supply squeeze and consequently, rising steel prices in India along with softening of input costs and import restrictions are likely to drive higher profitability for the entire sector. And for a country, poised to be the world’s second largest steel-producing country over the next two years that continues of be one of the lowest per capita consumer, most expect the big boys to grow through consolidation."The project in India is very important for Arcelor Mittal because we have been attempting to establish a steel business here for many years. It has been very difficult given the conditions we have had and the economic downturn that took place right after we began our plans. Now, an opportunity has risen for us to be participants in the growing Indian economy.It is one of the few economies in the world where we can expect substantial steel growth over the next few years and for a company of our scale, not to be taking advantage of that opportunity would be a shame. So, it is very important," said Brian Aranha, executive VP & global strategy head of the company, talking to ET Now in February.Mittal’s move for Essar Steel is not just a yearning to have a business in home country. It is also about his business compulsions. “Other than Mexico, the biggest strategic gap or handicap in their portfolio he has is his lack of scaled presence in the three sustainable growth markets of China, South East Asia (ASEAN) or India,” a senior executive of a global steel major told ET last month on the condition of anonymity."He can’t build capacity in Europe and is yet to get the regulatory sign off for his Italian acquisition of Ilva. US is high cost and he failed to break into India before. I would say he is desperate now.”In contrast, Tatas trebled their operations in India to 13 MTPA within a decade after Corus even at the expense of a hemorrhaging balance sheet. As demand shrunk in Europe, they were forced to descale from 18 MTPA to 10 MTPA. “India saved them to offset the bleed from Tata Steel Europe,” explained the executive.Despite its complex corporate structure, Essar Steel presents the best strategic fit for ArcelorMittal. “It is a fundamentally sound asset, integrated both upstream and downstream and with an attractive coastal position. We feel that our experience in all steel-making technologies makes us highly qualified to run the asset successfully,” Aranha told ET last month.According to the top brass of the company, unlike Bhushan – the other asset that the company seriously evaluated but dropped – Essar is the only scaled opportunity. “Our decision to bid for Essar was made after a detailed due diligence process which involved us looking at some of the other distressed assets and judging each of them on their merit and our ability to bring value to them,” said Aranha.After being involved in 50 M&As in the past 25 years, buying distressed assets and turning them around has become second nature for Mittal ever since he branched out on his own, starting with one greenfield plant in Indonesia in 1976. From recovering Polskie Huty Stali from the verge of bankruptcy in Poland in 2004 or Nova Hut in Czech Republic a year before to restructuring Calvert, Alabama to absorbing the transformative $34 billion merger of Arcelor and Mittal Steel in 2006, Mittal always loves a good fight.