SAIL posts Rs 535-cr loss

Steel Authority of India’s net loss for the June quarter widened to Rs 535 crore, mainly on account of an exceptional item after the company paid Rs 54.2 crore towards voluntary retirement compensation during the period. This is the fourth consecutive quarter when the maharatna firm has posted a loss.

The state-run steelmaker had reported a net loss of Rs 248 crore in the corresponding period of the previous financial year.

Company’s total income from operations was down to Rs 9,238 crore from Rs 9,493 crore in the year-ago period.

The steelmaker had posted a net loss of Rs 1,231 crore for the March quarter, hit by challenging market conditions and decline in sales realisation.

During the period, SAIL had spent about  25 per cent of planned capital expenditure for the current financial year.

All major facilities of its steel plants at Rourkela, IISCO, Durgapur, Bokaro and Salem have been modernised or completed and are under operation/stabilisation, the company said.

Hot trials in Bhilai’s upcoming Universal Rail Mill has commenced and the balance modernisation of Bhilai Steel Plant would be completed in the next few months which would improve SAIL’s production capacity to around 20 metric tonnes of saleable steel.

SAIL slipped into red in the September quarter of the previous financial year due to lower sales realisation.

Even though the government has extended support to the Indian steel makers in the form of minimum support price and anti-dumping duty, the domestic and international market continues to pose challenge to the indigenous steel makers.