JAJPUR: Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), the lone State-owned steel plant in Kalinga Nagar in the district, has started production of its own brand of TMT bars.
The company aims to initially produce about 10,000 tonnes of its own brand ‘NINL SMART TMT’ bars in a month from billets produced at its state-of-the-art steel melting shop in the plant.
Sashi Shekhar Mohanty, vice-chairman and managing director of NINL said, “This will be a game changer for the company. In the coming time, the quantity of value-added products will go up as NINL has invited ‘expression of interest’ for setting up of TMT bar-cum-rod mill.”
The company has achieved important milestones in the last two years by executing capital repair of its blast furnace in April, 2018 and by resuming billet production from the steel melting shop in December last year.
The company’s iron ore mines have also been granted necessary clearances during the period.
Mohanty said the company is in an advanced stage of operation of its 110 million tonne reserves iron ore mines at Koira in Keonjhar and Sundargarh districts.
Operation is expected by the second quarter of the present fiscal.
In 2018-19, NINL has achieved its highest ever net sales turnover of Rs 2,100 crore registering growth of 126 per cent and 65 per cent over the 2017-18 and 2016-17 fiscal respectively.
With the addition of high value-added billets, TMT and wire rods, the top-line of NINL is expected to improve further, he added.
‘NINL SMART TMT’ bars will be NINL’s first finished product and will mark a milestone in the turnaround journey of this loss-making company.