RINL appoints consultant for capacity expansion

The government today said that Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) has appointed a consultant for the next phase of its plan to augment capacity to 11 million tonne per annum once the ongoing expansion project for ramping up the output of its steel unit to 6.3 million tonne per annum is completed in August this year.

State-owned RINL, which currently has a capacity to produce about 4 million tonne per annum, will also explore the possibility of setting up a slag cement plant at its existing location at Visakhapatnam, in Andhra Pradesh.

"Consultant for preparation of feasibility report for next phase of expansion has already been engaged to add capacity further to produce 11 million tonne at Visakhapatnam unit. In this phase, the company would be looking for producing flat products, value added steel," an official statement said.

The statement added that Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma, while reviewing the performance of the PSU, asked its officials to "explore the possibility of setting up a slag cement plant at Visakhapatnam, inviting partners of international repute".

Verma appreciated the performance of the company and said the ministry would ensure that the company gets captive iron ore and coal mines to secure raw material security like other steel players.

"RINL is making profit continuously for last eight years, though the company does not have captive iron ore and coal mines. RINL's profitability would have been further higher by over Rs 1,500 crore annually (had it got captive mines)," Verma said.

The country's first shore-based integrated steel plant has already submitted several applications for allotment of iron ore mines in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.

The company, which is executing the first phase of its expansion project, is likely to take the capacity to 6.3 million tonne of liquid steel in the next five months, the statement said.

The company plans to invest Rs 3,046 crore next fiscal to part-finance the capacity expansion and iron ore, coking coal mine acquisitions.

The proposed outlay is 5.21% higher than the Rs 2,895 crore spending estimate mentioned in the Budget for 2011-12 for enhancing capacity in the current fiscal.