core sector communique

Steel Minister Reviews Annual Performance of MECON and MOIL for Year 2011-12

The Union Minister of Steel, Shri Beni Prasad Verma has reviewed the performance of MECON and MOIL for the year 2011-12 here today. He asked MECON to improve efficiency and diversify into areas other than steel. He said the Company must diversify into areas of power, oil and gas and infrastructure. The Minister advised MECON to ensure that quality of service rendered by the company is constantly upgraded, as complacency in this sphere will affect both the company and its customers. Shri K.K. Mehrotra, CMD, MECON made a presentation about the company’s performance. He said that during 2011-12 MECON had achieved a record turnover of Rs. 643.83 crores and a Profit After Tax of Rs. 136.36 crores. The net worth of the company as of 31.3.2012 became Rs. 314.98 crores which was Rs.203.97 crores at the end of March 2011. MECON provides engineering and consultancy services to steel producers in private sector as well as SAIL units at Bokaro, Rourkela, Durgapur, Burnpur & Bhilai. In addition to this, MECON is also providing project management services for 2.5 Mtpa steel plant of ISP, Burnpur and 3 Mtpa plant of NMDC. The company has made inroads in power, oil & gas and infrastructure sectors and diversification in areas other than metal have paid rich dividends. Some of the projects where MECON has provided consultancy services include Sinter Plant-III at SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant, Coke Oven Battery No. 1 & 2 of SAIL’s Bokaro Steel Plant, 501 km long Bawana-Nangal Natural Gas Pipeline (BNPL) of M/s GAIL, Project Seabird Phase-I by Raksha Mantri, Blowing-in of the largest Blast Furnace in India at JSW Ltd., Toranagallu and 5000 mm Plate Mill at Jindal Steel & Power Ltd., Angul. The Minister appreciated the efforts of MECON towards community welfare under its CSR program that include providing medical facilities and vocational training and contributing to infrastructure development of weaker sections of the society. Reviewing the performance of MOIL Limited, a Miniratna – Category I PSU under the Ministry of Steel, Shri Verma asked the Company to diversify into value added products and increase production. Shri Verma also asked the Company to improve its production performance in the coming year and go for forward integration by diversifying into value added products. He expressed concern over MOIL not achieving its production targets for the year 2011-12 and advised MOIL to increase production. Shri K.J. Singh, CMD MOIL informed that the company registered a production of 10.70 lakh tonnes of manganese ore as compared to 11.50 lakh tonnes during the previous year. He added that the reduction in production was due to slackness in the market, less demand for fines grade ore and import of ore from other countries. Other highlights include MOIL taking up large scale development work in opencast and underground mines and acquisition of new mines in India and abroad. Besides, turnover of MOIL during 2011-12 was Rs.905.68 crores as compared to Rs.1145.31 crores in the last fiscal. Also, the net profit of the company went down to Rs.410.77 crores from Rs.588.06 crores during the previous year. The company has spent a sum of Rs.6.55 crores towards Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) during 2011-12. The Secretary, Ministry of Steel Shri D.R.S. Chaudhary was also present on the occasion.