The Indian government has proposed to separate Alloy Steel Plant (ASP) from its parent company Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) to reduce the losses of the latter and revive ASP’s operations over the long term, a government official said on Wednesday, September 28.
The official said that, though nothing has been decided yet, the option of inviting a strategic investor into ASP as an independent company could also be looked into by the Ministry of Steel at a later date.
Last month, the Indian parliament was informed by the Ministry of Steel that the government advisory body NITI Ayog (National Institute for Transformation of India Commission) recommended that the government-owned SAIL identify some of its subsidiaries for strategic sale to reduce losses.
The government official said that a financial advisor will be appointed to chalk out the road map for ASP.
ASP, with a plant located at Durgapur in the eastern Indian state of West Bengal, has a capacity to produce 256,000 mt of liquid steel and 178,000 mt of finished steel, with slabs, blooms, bars, plates and forged items forming its primary product portfolio.