Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Steel Minister asks SAIL to complete all ongoing expansion plans on time

The Minister for Steel Shri Virbhadra Singh has asked the Steel Authority of India to complete all the ongoing expansion programmes on time. The minister was reviewing the Q1 performance of the public sector major at a meeting here today. The Minister said, the economy looks set for a rebound considering the latest IIP numbers and the projections of GDP this fiscal. He said, this will translate into decent demand growth for steel in the near future. The Minister appreciated the difficult business environment following the slowdown and hoped the situation to improve in the next couple of quarters. The Minister expressed satisfaction over the performance of SAIL during the first quarter. 

The steel major reported a turnover of Rs 9747 Crore during April – June 09, a decrease of 20 per cent over the same quarter last year. The net profit also fell by 27.7 per cent to Rs.1326 crore. The profitability was adversely affected due to reduction in average net sales realization of saleable steel, escalation in input prices mainly of imported coal, coke, ferro-silicon, increase in railway freight, increase in fuel cost surcharge by DVC and higher interest charges. Making a presentation the SAIL Chairman Shri S.K.Roongta said, the adverse effect was partially offset by higher saleable steel production(4.0%) and sales volume (4.4%), improved production of value added products(21%), reduction in coke rate and specific energy consumption, improvement in Blast Furnace productivity, write back of provisions for salaries and wages revision of employees and higher interest earnings. Shri Roongta said, most of the ongoing expansion plans are on schedule. 

The Minister urged SAIL to strengthen its CSR activities. He said, out of the budget of Rs. 80 Crore, the company has been able to spend Rs10.83Crore during the first quarter which is a drop of 201 per cent on sequential basis and a drop of 60 per cent compared to Q1 of the previous year. 

Steel Secretary Shri P.K.Rastogi and other senior officers attended today’s review.

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