Vizag Steel Plant production to reach normalcy in 15 days

The company had shut down its production operations in safe mode due to Cyclone Hudhud

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), today said production at the plant would reach normalcy in the next 15 days.

The navaratna-status,  public-sector undertaking had gradually shut down its production operations in safe mode from October 12.

“We have charted a detailed action plan to bring complete normalcy in operations within two weeks,” P Madhusudhan, chairman and managing director of RINL, told mediapersons here on Thursday.

Stating that VSP had received 50 Mw of power from the state grid, using which it had started captive generation of 50 Mw, he said the company would reach its total captive power generation capacity of 247 Mw in two days from now.

“Physical damage to VSP properties and equipment was minimal due to Cyclone Hudhud. However,  we are likely to incur a production loss of Rs 200 crore during the next 15 days,” Madhusudhan said.

According to him, VSP has no raw material (coking coal and iron ore) issues. VSP already has 350,000 tonne of coking coal  stocked up, while NMDC is ready to supply iron ore according to the company’s requirement on a priority basis, he added.

Madhusudhan said RINL was ready for an initial public offering (IPO) and had already filed a draft red herring prospectus with Sebi.

“Since we are now focused on the revival process, it is up to the DOD (Department of Disinvestment) to take a final call,” he said.

According to him, growth in VSP’s sales during the first half of FY15 was flat with revenues of Rs 5,750 crore. “We are quite optimistic on Q4 sales on likely demand from within the new state of AP,” he said.