Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Steel Minister Reviews Performance of RINL and Bird Group of Companies

The Minister for Steel, Shri Beni Prasad Verma has reviewed the performance of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd – Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) and Bird Group of Companies here today. Chairing the meeting, Shri Verma appreciated the efforts of RINL at achieving a net profit after tax of Rs.221 Crores during the first half year (H1).

The Minister appreciated the progress made by RINL in commissioning of expansion units and lauded the efforts made by the company in areas of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Environmental Management as well as the steps taken to improve presence in rural India.

The CMD of RINL, Shri A.P. Choudhary informed that an impact of around Rs. 650 crores mainly on account of higher coking coal prices and iron ore prices was partly offset through management initiatives and in-house cost reduction exercises.

During H1 of the current year, RINL sold about 1.34 million tons of steel, registering highest ever half yearly turnover of Rs. 6216 crore, with a growth of 28% over Corresponding Period Last Year (CPLY). With this, the company’s net worth as on 30th September, 2011 was Rs. 13,450 crore. In order to measure up to the global standards of steel production RINL achieved efficiency in operating parameters like water consumption, fuel rate in Blast Furnace including coke rate and BF slag utilization etc. During the period, RINL also achieved highest average converter lining life since inception.

During the first half of the year, the physical work for the phase -1 of the 6.3 mtpa capacity expansion was completed. The new units are likely to commence production in this fiscal. RINL also submitted 27 applications for allotment of captive iron ore mines to the states of Odisha, Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Besides, RINL also won coveted awards like, “Excellent Energy Efficient Award”, “Indira Gandhi Rajbhasha Award, “India’s Best Companies to Work” for in 2011, National Sustainability Award 2011 and Shram Awards for five of its employees.

The Minister also reviewed the performance of Bird Group of Companies (BGC) - a subsidiary of RINL. Shri Verma, advised RINL to provide necessary support to BGC so as to enable it to start earning profits. Shri Verma congratulated the company for its commitment towards Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives.

The Bird Group of Companies comprised of seven companies of which only three companies namely Eastern Investments Limited (EIL), Orissa Minerals Development Company Limited (OMDC) and Bisra Stone Lime Company Limited (BSLC) are operational and other four companies are under liquidation. The restructuring of Bird Group of Companies was approved by the Union Cabinet on 10.09.2009. Restructuring process has now been completed. OMDC and BSLC have become subsidiary companies of EIL and EIL has become a subsidiary company of RINL. Thus RINL has become the holding company of all the three operational companies EIL, OMDC and BSLC which have now become PSUs under the Ministry of Steel.

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