Mesco to expand steel capacity to 3.5 mtpa

Mideast Integrated Steel Ltd, a Mesco Group firm, hopes to expand steelmaking capacity at Kalinganagar to 3.5 million tonne per annum in five years.

The company has already started upgrading its pig iron making facility at Kalinganagar into a 1.2 mtpa fully integrated steel unit. While installing a 3.5 mtpa capacity steel plant will need Rs 10,000 crore investment, capacity ramp up from 1.2 mtpa to five mtpa is to be taken up at an estimated investment of Rs 8,000 crore.

"In five years, we hope to achieve steel production capacity of 3.5 mtpa. We have requested the government to allot us some iron ore mines. Mesco has no mines now except the Roida mines and the company is buying ore from external sources," said J K Singh, chairman emeritus of Mesco Group after meeting Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

Mesco Steel, the group's flagship company, posted a net profit of Rs 140.43 crore in 2012-13, 55.56 per cent higher than Rs 90.27 crore made in the year ago period, helped by better sales realisation from iron ore sales from its captive mines.

The company's topline grew by over 33 per cent to Rs 728.78 crore in the last fiscal, and it helped earnings per share to zoom by 56 per cent to Rs 10.19. The board announced 7.5 per cent dividend per share for 2012-13.