SAIL spends Rs 44,536 cr on capex in 7 yrs

SAIL spent Rs 8,993 crore on capex last fiscal, the lowest since 2009-10, according to an internal note of the state- owned company

Steel major SAIL has incurred capital expenditure of Rs 44,536 crore over the past seven years, out of the proposed 61,870 crore, so as to raise the annual capacity to 20.23 million tonne.

It spent Rs 8,993 crore on capex last fiscal, the lowest since 2009-10, according to an internal note of the state- owned company.

In April, the first month of the current fiscal, it spent Rs 424 crore on ramping up the capacity.

SAIL has been expanding capacity at all its major steel plants at Rourkela, Bokaro, Durgapur, Bhilai and IISCO.

The company recently received flak from Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma who expressed concern over the slow progress of the ongoing modernisation and expansion.

Dissatisfied with the company's performance, the Minister said that profitability of the company can improve only if the expansion projects are completed and stabilised within a short period of time.

The Rs 61,870 crore capex plan for raising saleable steel -making capacity was kick-off in 2006-07 with Rs 101 crore investment. It gathered momentum the following year, during which the company had spent Rs 1,060 crore.

SAIL spent Rs 4,195 crore on capex in 2008-09; Rs 9,495 crore in 2009-10, Rs 10,210 crore in 2010-11 and Rs 10,059 crore in 2011-12.

Of the total, Rs 39,131 crore was earmarked for capacity expansion; Rs 7,039 crore for value-addition or product-mix improvement; Rs 3,509 crore for technological up-gradation or modernisation and Rs 6,909 crore for de-bottlenecking.