Rama Petros Unit Grinds To A Halt

The management, which took the decision to stop production temporarily, said "the closure should not be termed as a lock-out".

The halt in production is a temporary "disruption of work" which is synonymous with the routine pre-Diwali bargaining, company sources said.

According to the management, in spite of lower profits during 1995-96, the company has maintained the ex-gratia bonus at 35 per cent.

The workers with an average yearly wages of Rs 45,000 were paid Rs 15,000 as bonus on an average, sources said.

The Patalaganga plant contributes to the major chunk of Rama Petro's income from the sales of methanol.

 

Rama Petro's total sales of Rs 70 crore during 1995-96, nearly Rs 59.4 crore came from the sale of methanol produced from this plant. The unit, which has an installed capacity of 60,000 tonnes per annum was operating at 77 per cent capacity utilisation.

It uses naptha as a raw material which is under the price control of the government.

The performance of the company over the years was not up to the expectations, due to a variety of reasons.

Besides, the reduction in import duty of methanol had come as cropper for Rama Petro's markets.

The company blames the pressure on prices and the sliding of the world prices of methanol during the last fiscal for its poor performance. Rama Petro's sales duringthe year 1995-96 was to the tune of Rs 68.9 crore, which was almost identical to the 1994-95 figure of Rs 69.75 crore.

The companys profit after tax during the year 1995-96 stood at Rs 8.7 crore compared with the figure posted in the previous year of Rs 14.1 crore.