India's Minister of State for Steel Shri Beni Prasad Verma reviewed the quarterly performance of Indian state-owned steelmaker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) on March 22.
Appraising the performance of the company, Mr. Verma said that RINL has consistently recorded a profit over the last eight years, though the company does not have captive iron ore and coal mines. He said that RINL's profitability would have been even higher by over Rupees 15 billion annually if the company had captive iron ore mines like other steel producers in the country.
The minister affirmed support for extending all possible help for early allotment of both iron ore and coal mines to RINL in the national interest to meet the growing requirements for steel in the country. RINL has already submitted several applications for allotments of iron ore mines in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Chhatisgarh.
The secretary of the steel ministry, Shri P.K. Misra, said that the first phase of RINL's plant expansion aimed at producing 6.3 million mt of liquid steel per annum is progressing rapidly towards its integrated commissioning, with production to start within four to five months.
It was stated that a consultant for the preparation of the feasibility report for the next phase of expansion has already been engaged to add further capacity to produce 11 million mt at RINL's Visakhapatnam unit. In this phase, the company would be looking at producing flat products and value-added steel such as seamless tube, silicon steel and API grade steel.