Visakhapatnam steel plant sale due to high costs, low output: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

New Delhi: Union minister for finance Nirmala Sitharaman in her reply to a question raised by the YSRCP MP, V Balashowry, here in the Lok Sabha on Monday, said that the major factors for losses incurred by RINL that owns Visakhapatnam steel plant (VSP), among others, were higher direct and indirect costs, high debt servicing, lower productivity, and lower capacity utilisation.

Keeping in view the policy of the government, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA), in its meeting held on January 27 this year had already accorded 'in-principle' approval for 100 per cent disinvestment of Government of India (GOI) shareholding in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) along with RINL's stake in its subsidiaries/joint ventures through strategic disinvestment by way of privatisation.