NINL draws plan to achieve 5 MTPA steel output in 2 phases

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL), promoted by MMTC Ltd, Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd (IPICOL) and other government agencies today said it has chalked out a plan to achieve steel output of 5 MTPA in two phases at a cost of Rs 25,000-30,000 crore.
"NINL has chalked out a plan to achieve steel output of five MTPA in two phases. Full capacity expansion, estimated to cost Rs 25,000-30,000 crore, is slated to be achieved by 2025," NINL chairman and managing director Ved Prakash told PTI here.
MMTC has promoted NINL to set up 1.1 million tones integrated steel plant at Jajpur district of Odisha.

NINL has signed mining lease with Odisha government for ore iron, which will help the company to save around Rs 150 crore per annum, Prakash said.
Though the captive iron ore mine was allocated to MMTC's JV long back and now after completion of statutory requirements, finally the mining lease has been signed with Odisha government on January 11, he said.
"It is a major milestone achievement for MMTC and its JV company. For the past 10 years or so, NINL had been procuring Iron ore at higher price from outside sources and sometimes faced many difficulties in procuring Iron ore timely and of right quality," Prakash said.

However, getting iron ore from its own mines will help NINL to get iron ore timely and with expected savings of about Rs 150 crore per annum, it will result in better profitability and strengthen financial position.

Prakash said the mining reserves are more than 100 million tones spread over in an area of about 875 hectares in districts of Sundergarh and Koenjhar, Odisha.
NINL is the biggest producer and exporter of pig iron in the country.
Presently, MMTC Ltd, the biggest equity holder in NINL was selling iron ore to the unit at Duburi in Jajpur district and charged a commission of 3 per cent.

The NINL plant has the capacity to produce 0.5 million tonne (MT) of basic pig iron, 0.3 mt of steel billets and also 0.3 mt of steel wire rods per annum.
Instead of exports, NINL is selling more of its pig iron in the domestic market and is able to recover cost of production and keep EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) positive.