The Hindu Business Line : Vizag Steel turnover tops Rs 6,000 cr

Mr B.K. Panda, Chairman and Managing Director of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (second from right), flanked by Mr C. Appa Rao, Director, Personnel, Mr P.K. Bishnoi, Director, Finance, and Mr Y. Sivasagara Rao, Director, Commercial, at a press meet in Visakhapatnam on Sunday. — K.R. Deepak

Visakhapatnam , April 4

THE sales turnover of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant crossed the Rs 6,000-crore mark during 2003-2004, registering a rise of 22 per cent.

Mr B.K. Panda, Chairman and Managing Director of the plant, reviewing the performance at the annual press meet here on Sunday, said that it had performed exceedingly well during the year on all fronts overcoming problems such as shortage of raw materials.

The plant had produced 4.05 million tonnes of hot metal, 3.51 million tonnes of liquid steel and 3.17 million tonnes of saleable steel during the year, surpassing the rated capacities for the third consecutive year. The plant also produced 8 lakh tonnes of special steel during the year.

Mr Panda said the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd's turnover amounted to Rs 6,174 crore, a rise of 22 per cent over the previous year, and the cash profit (provisional) was Rs. 1,972 crore and the net profit Rs 1,521 crore. The company wiped out all debts by November, 2003, and the interest burden could be reduced to Rs 50 crore.

He said the plant's capacity utilisation was in the range of 110 per cent to 120 across various production units and it was one of the cheapest producers of steel in the country. The labour productivity, at 262 tonnes per man-year, was the highest among Indian integrated steel plants.

During the year, the RINL had sold 2.82 million tonnes in the domestic market and .38 million tonnes in the export market. The increase in prices and the appreciation of rupee value had resulted in higher export earnings.

The company could earn Rs 5,406 crore through domestic sales and Rs 768 crore through exports against Rs 4,458 crore and Rs 600 crore respectively during 2002-2003.

Coke shortage: Mr. Panda said the problem of coking coal scarcity, being faced by all the steel plants in the country, was a worrying factor for Vizag steel too, "but we are making all attempts to see to it that there is no production cut."

He said the plant was trying to acquire some captive iron ore mines in the country and the water problem had been solved with the co-operation of the State Government. "We will get 5 tmc feet of Godavari waters from June onwards and there will not be any problem in the near future," he said.