core sector communique

Steel Minister Reviews Annual Performance of KIOCL and HSCL for the Year 2011-12

The Union Minister of Steel, Shri Beni Prasad Verma has reviewed the performance of KIOCL and Hindustan Steelworks Construction Ltd. (HSCL) for the year 2011-12 here today. He asked KIOCL to improve the volume of production and sales. The Minister exhorting KIOCL to improve its business and said that Karnataka Mining ban might have dented the company’s performance but there is still a lot more that can be done to improve performance. Shri Verma appreciated the efforts being made by KIOCL for improving techno-economic parameters and steps taken to encourage in-house system modifications and improvements. The CMD, KIOCL Shri Malay Chaterjee, made a presentation about the performance of the Company and highlighted its achievements and the challenges before the Company. The company has achieved 15% bottom line growth in spite of low volume of production & sales in comparison to previous year. The company also paid a dividend of Rs.18.84 crore for financial year 2011-12. KIOCL is exploring the possibility of acquiring mines in India and abroad. The Company is in dialogue with Government of Andhra Pradesh for allotment of captive mine for setting up green field value added project and is also looking at Iron Ore mining assets in Africa. Reviewing the performance of HSCL, Shri Verma expressed concern over the slow progress of projects taken up by the Company and asked to finish the projects in time. Shri Malaya Chatterjee, CMD, KIOCL and Incharge CMD, HSCL appraised the performance of the Company which included achieving a turnover of Rs. 1208 crores in 2011-12 against the turnover of Rs. 1005 crores achieved during 2010-11. Shri Chatterjee informed the measures taken by the company for earning operational profit of Rs. 82.70 crores during 2011-12. Another highlight of performance of HSCL was that it achieved orders of about Rs. 1900 crores during 2011-12 surpassing the targets of Rs.1800 crore set for the year. The Minister was concerned over HSCL not making any net profit and advised the company to stress on increasing its business in the Steel Sector. The Road Map for achieving MOU performance targets was discussed. The measures for achieving these targets include increasing turnover from the Steel sector, capacity building by entering into MOU with Overseas and Indian partners in specialized sectors, taking up open cast mining projects, reorganizing manpower with induction of experts in different fields and skill development of the present employees.