RINL operating at over 100 pc of rated capacity

• 3.47 million tonnes production target for 2013-14
• Priority to cost control measures; improvement of techno-economic parameters

Visakhapatnam: Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) continues to operate its unit at over 100 per cent of its rated capacity by making profits consistently for the last 11 years, according to AP Choudary, Chairman and Managing Director, RINL. Addressing a press conference here late on Thursday, he said during 2013-14, RINL had planned for production of 3.47 million tonnes of saleable steel and is set to cross a turnover of Rs 15,000 crore.

Mr Choudary said RINL had almost completed its 6.3 mtpa expansion plan and production started in some of the units. Production in the other units would start progressively by end of the current fiscal. The modernisation and upgrading of the existing assets costing over Rs 5,000 crore were also taken up. Once completed, production of liquid steel would go up to 7.3 mtpa.

Concerted efforts towards cost control measures and focus on improvement of techno-economic parameters were always given priority at RINL to help neutralise the impact of squeezed margins, he said. During 2012-13, cost savings of Rs 207crore were achieved in operations, procurement and fund management. Further, RINL had been following ‘100 per cent hedging’ of foreign currency loans taken for import of coking coal, which had insulated it from losses on account of exchange fluctuations, he said. All these measures resulted in winning the ‘Cost Management Award’ from the Institute of Cost Accountants of India, Mr Choudary reminded. During 2013-14, RINL was targeting a growth of 20 per cent in saleable steel production and was well on course to achieve the same. As per the MoU entered with the Ministry of Steel, production of 3.47 million tonnes was envisaged for the year against 2.9 million tonnes in 2012-13.

Impressive growth

The CMD said during the first five months of the current fiscal, RINL had recorded a growth of nine per cent in saleable steel production. With the remaining units of expansion lined up for commissioning, RINL was confident of achieving the targeted growth of 20 per cent in saleable steel during the year with additional production of hot metal touching 4.5 million tonnes. Value-added steel production got grew by around 11 per cent during this period, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of total steel produced.

To improve the brand image further so as to have higher sales, 2013-14 has been declared as the ‘Year of Quality’ at RINL. Towards being self-reliant in power requirement, captive power generation too was stepped up in the range of five per cent to six per cent during the year. Further, 67.5 MW turbo generator was installed and generation would start shortly. An additional 120 MW power plant, using only BF gas, was also under construction and would come in for production by the end of the fiscal, Mr Choudary said.

New Marketing Initiatives

The CMD further said that RINL had started seven more Marketing Contact Offices (MCO) in the country at Trichy, Raipur, Ranchi, Allahabad, Siliguri, Jammu and Panaji, in addition to its existing network of 23 branch offices. With this, the total number of RINL outlets increased to 30. Soon, RINL would open its first overseas Marketing Contact Office at Colombo in Sri Lanka as part of its plan to increase its presence in the global arena. Focus on the rural marketing network helped the company in increasing the number of rural dealers to over 600, Mr Choudary said.

Exports

Referring to exports, Mr Choudary said RINL products were well accepted in several countries. Iron and steel products worth Rs 600 crore were exported during last year registering a growth of 45 per cent over the previous year. RINL also exported pig iron to the tune of 59 per cent of the total export from India in 2012-13. Director (Finance) P Madhusudhan Rao and Director (Commercial) TK Chand spoke.