Jindal Steel and Power posts 20% steel sales growth in January 2022

Jindal Steel and Power on Wednesday reported "meaningful recovery" in steel sales, despite low railway rake availability and stressed that sales volume registered a year-on-year growth of 20 per cent to 6.95 lakh tonnes in January this year.

Inventories continued to decline for the second consecutive month with the company posting steel production of 6.82 lakh tonnes.

Sales volume increased 20 per cent year-on-year to 6.95 lakh tonnes, as compared to 5.81 lakh tonnes in January 21, the company said in a statement.

"We have surpassed our targets for the last calendar year, and we are confident that we will also achieve our envisaged targets for the financial year.

"We firmly believe in India's growth story, which is expected to grow for FY22 at 9.2 per cent, which will be the highest amongst major economies, and for FY23, GDP is also estimated to be robust at 8.0-8.5 per cent," company's Managing Director V R Sharma said in a statement.

Marginal improvement in rake availability during the reported month, resulted in export share rising to 31 per cent, from 28 per cent in December last year.

"We would like to thank the government of India for the announcements made in the Budget with regards to coal gasification, coal to liquid initiative and extension of manufacturing timeline for claiming 15 per cent concessional income tax rate on green field projects to March 31, 2024 are highly appreciated," Sharma said.

The government's push on infrastructure and increase in outlay for capital expenditure will support growth for steel, cement and other related sectors in the coming year, he added.

The company is a leading infrastructure conglomerate with a presence in the steel, power and the mining sector.