SAIL's modernisation, expansion programme near completion: CMD

State-owned steel maker SAIL has almost completed its around Rs 72,000 crore modernisation and expansion programme, a top company official said Thursday.

SAIL had undertaken the modernisation and expansion programme to increase its capacity to 21 million tonnes per annum (MTPA).

The financial year 2017-18 witnessed several landmark achievements through ramping up of new facilities and surpassing previous records in physical performance, SAIL Chairman and MD Saraswati Prasad said at the company's annual general meeting (AGM) here.

"SAIL has almost finished its balance modernisation and expansion programme," Prasad said.

During the preceding fiscal, persistent strategic approach to improve operational profitability assisted SAIL to improve the EBIDTA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) to Rs 5,184 crore, a substantial increase over FY 2016-17.

The improved operational performance was backed by increase in saleable steel production, improved product mix, improvement in productivity, reduction in coke rate and specific energy consumption, reduction in specific wage bill etc, he added.

"In FY18... SAIL achieved its highest ever production of hot metal of 15.983 million tonne (MT), Crude Steel of 15.021 MT and Saleable Steel of 14.071 MT. It also clocked an all-time best performance of continuous-cast (CC) steel production of 12.80 MT with a growth of 9 per cent over previous best of 11.77 MT, achieved in FY17," Prasad said.

On the outlook for global and domestic steel industry, he said that growth in local steel consumption is strongly backed by robust development of India and infrastructure sector.

It is further supported by 7.8 per cent growth in domestic finished steel consumption during the FY 2017-18, as a result of growing activities of steel intensive sectors, Prasad added.