India’s Ministry of Steel has put a merger proposal for government-run steel companies, Neelchal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) back on the table, a government official said on Tuesday, June 18.
The official said that the proposal for the merger of the two companies first mooted in 2012 was revived in course of a review meeting held by India’s new steel minister Dharmendra Pradhan soon after the new Indian government was sworn in last month.
The review meeting discussed optimizing the performance of NINL and RINL and in course of such discussions it was decided that the merger of the two steel companies would “be actively considered” by the Ministry of Steel, the official added.
One of the biggest synergies that could accrue through the merger will be that RINL which does not have any captive iron ore and sources the raw material from the mines of NMDC Limited could gain access to NINL’s Koda iron ore mines with estimated reserves of around 110 million mt.
While the Indian government holds a 100 percent stake in the 6 million mt steel capacity RINL Limited, NINL’s shareholders include government trading firm MMTC Limited (49.78 percent), Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Limited (IPICOL) (15.29 percent), with the balance held by various mining agencies of the Odisha government.