SAIL eyes majority stake in Neelachal Ispat

State-owned steel maker SAIL has evinced interest in acquiring majority stake in Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd with plans to raise NINL's capacity 5-fold from nearly a million tonnes per annum.

NINL, a company jointly promoted by MMTC and Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd, has a pig iron manufacturing facility in Odisha. MMTC is under the administrative control of the Commerce Ministry.

"SAIL has taken up with Ministry of Commerce/Government of India for possibility of acquiring majority stake in NINL in Jeypore, Odisha," Steel Ministry said in its Outcome Budget for the current fiscal.

NINL also produces LAM coke used by the steel industry. It has a 62.5 MW captive power plant to meet captive needs. The company has been allotted an iron ore mine at Koira having an estimated 110 million tonnes reserves.

The Steel Ministry said the acquisition will facilitate realisation of the full potential of NINL as a profitable integrated steel plant.

"It will help in enhancing SAIL's growth and market share, beside providing an access to a port-based plant and captive iron ore deposits which could be gainfully utilised," it said.

SAIL is enhancing its hot metal capacity to 23.4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from 13.8 mtpa now with Rs 72,000 crore investments lined up.

It has also prepared a draft plan (Vision-2025) to raise its hot metal production capacity to around 50 mtpa by 2025 mainly through brown-field expansion with an estimated Rs 1.5 lakh crore investments.

"SAIL has reiterated its plan to develop NINL into a five million tonne per annum (mtpa) steel plant, in phases, from the current capacity of 0.9 mtpa," the Steel Ministry said outlining SAIL's future plans with NINL.

Another state-run steel maker Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) had also showed interests to acquire NINL.