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Ambarish Mukherjee

To take over Nisco unit from W. Bengal Govt

New Delhi , June 15

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) would be setting up a greenfield facility for manufacturing long products near Kolkata.

The company is in the process of finalising plans for taking over West Bengal Government-owned National Iron and Steel Company (1984) Ltd (NISCO), which had been closed for the last six years, for this purpose, official sources told Business Line.

SAIL's greenfield facility for manufacturing long products would be coming up in the 121-acre freehold land that NISCO owns at Belur in the outskirts of Kolkata.

Before closing down because of poor market conditions, the company operated two electric arc furnaces, one foundry, one steel melting shop, one machine shop and a rolling mill till it was operational.

Lot of synergies

But as of now these are of no value and totally new capacities would have to be created, officials said.

However, officials pointed out that the new unit would have a lot of synergies with SAIL's Durgapur Steel Plant (DSP) and Indian Iron and Steel Company Ltd (IISCO) plant that had been merged with SAIL earlier this year.

"The NISCO unit would be essentially a finished products unit. We make a lot of semis at DSP and IISCO too would be increasing output.

"The semis from DSP and IISCO could be processed at the NISCO unit in Kolkata, which would mostly make construction products including TMT bars and rods and would have a strong local market," officials said.

According to informed sources, the State Government has cleared the takeover on a clean-slate basis following which SAIL would not be carrying over NISCO's earlier liabilities.

The major portion of NISCO's total liability of around Rs 160 crore is with the West Bengal Government, which is likely to be waived off.

This is not the first time that NISCO would be changing hands. Set up in the 1930s in the private sector, the company was nationalised in 1979 by the then Janata Government.

The Congress Government in 1984 handed over the company to the West Bengal Government which was then renamed into National Iron & Steel Company (1984) Ltd.

More Stories on : New Projects | Steel | Steel Authority of India Ltd

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