SAIL achieves 8% growth in H-1 sales

State-owned steel giant SAIL today said its sales registered 8% growth in the April- September period of the current fiscal at 5.7 million tonne (MT) over the same period last year.

"Saleable steel production registered a growth of 4% with a production of 6.5 MT in April-September'13, making it the highest ever H-1 production of saleable steel," the company said in a statement.

There was an increase of 37% in steel exports, with 1.9 lakh tonne achieved in first half of 2013-14, as against 1.37 lakh tonne in the same period of 2012-13 fiscal, it said.

The company said its blast furnace 'Durga', the largest in the country at Rourkela Steel Plant, set up in August this year is under stabilisation.

Built at an expenditure of about Rs 1,600 crore, the furnace will increase SAIL's hot metal capacity by 2.5 million tonne per annum (MTPA).

The steel major also said that last month it had launched

 "Cost Optimisation Initiatives" outlining the road map for achieving an overall saving target of around Rs 5,000 crore during the next three years.

Thrust areas identified for continual cost reduction included input optimisation, improving the operational efficiency, quick stabilisation of the newly commissioned units, reducing overhead costs and enhancing employee productivity.

SAIL Chairman C S Verma has expressed confidence that the growth trend in sales and exports would continue in the coming months.