ROURKELA: After faltering in the first quarter (Q1) of 2020-21 with loss of Rs 402.39 crore due to Covid-19 lockdown, the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has bounced back with robust and resilient performance in the later months.
At the end of nine months till December 2020, RSP has reported Profit Before Tax (PBT) of Rs 997.28 crore. It’s expected to end the financial year 2020-21 with PBT exceeding Rs 1,700 crore. As per unaudited financial results in Q1, RSP recorded negative growth of Rs 402.39 crore. In Q2, the company narrowed its losses by posting PBT of Rs 331.31 crore.
RSP sprang a surprise in Q3 with a PBT of Rs 1,068.36 crore leaving rest of SAIL’s steel plants behind. Bokaro Steel Plant (BSP), which has higher production capacity than RSP, closely trails with a PBT of Rs 1,056.54 crore. The nine month PBT of RSP till December 2020 was Rs 997.28 crore compared to BSP’s Rs 920.39 crore.
President of RSP’s recognised trade union Rourkela Ispat Karkhana Karmachari Sangh (RIKKS) Himanshu Sekhar Bal said the steel plant continued with its sterling performance in January and February of 2021 and it is anticipated that the company with an additional PBT of over Rs 700 crore will end the financial year with profits over Rs 1,700 crore.
Hard work of RSP workers and a highly favourable steel market helped the company negate the adverse impact of lockdown in the initial months. The Director (Finance) of SAIL on Saturday informed at the NJCS meeting that SAIL would post a PBT of over Rs 5,000 crore and he hopes that RSP would contribute the lion’s share of it.
Steel Executives Federation of India (SEFI) General Secretary and RSP Executives’ Association (RSPEA) President Bimal Bisi said in January RSP achieved PBT close to Rs 500 crore, but in February the PBT came down to nearly Rs 250 crore due to fluctuation in the steel market. He said amid favourable market indication, if RSP’s resilience in March continues, it will help SAIL post a PBT of over Rs 6,000 crore.