VISAKHAPATNAM: Riding over the measures to minimisation of losses, the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), is eyeing an operational profit of `100 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal year, its chairman and managing director P Madhusudan has said.
Giving an overview of the performance of the VSP here on Friday, the CMD said that the RINL was expecting to come into the operational profit zone this fiscal year.
In the past few years, the RINL has posted a cumulative loss up to `1,300 core and the CMD said several remedial measures including advanced technology have helped curb the losses. “Given the performance, the cumulative losses may be decreased to `900 crore by the year-end. The RINL registered a loss of `217 crore in the 2016-17 fiscal when compared to the `760 crore in the 2015-16 financial year,” the CMD said.
In the last quarter (October 2017 to January 2018), he said, the RINL is steadily posting good production volumes, adding that the sale volume has improved by 26 per cent with the company posting a sales turnover of `13,000 crore and fiscal growth of 38 per cent by January this year. “The finished steel production registered a significant 94 pc growth. We have achieved the best labour productivity in all wings. With the commissioning of 120 MW lean gas-based power plant, the waste energy recovery optimised by 123 per cent,” he said.
Captive mining
Referring to the captive mining issue, the CMD said RINL has invested huge amounts to get captive iron and coal ore mines. “We have invested `360 crore in the OMDC for getting six mines. But it is yet to be materialised. We are trying to get the iron ore blocks identified near Kukunooru of West Godavari district and have made a tri-party agreement with the AP Government and Centre to undertake the exploration,” he said.
Water scarcity
The RINL has undertaken the Kanithi Balancing Reservoir-2 project with an estimated investment of `500 crore to deal with the possible water scarcity. “We have made an agreement with the GVMC to utilise the water generated from its STP and we may generate additional 10 MGD of water per day,” he said. He denied lapses in conducting the RINL recruitment tests. “We have cancelled the contract with the hiring agency. As the case is in the court now, we will take appropriate steps as per the judgement,” the CMD said.
‘No official info on RINL disinvestment’
Asked about the disinvestment plans, the CMD said the Centre has included the RINL in the disinvestment PSUs list. At the same time, it has also proposed approx `489 cr stake of the this ‘Navaratna’ company, the face value amount would be withdrawn. “However, we don’t have any official info as to when and to what extent the disinvestment would be done,” CMD P Madhusudan said.