Page 18 - Steel Industry

Amarendu Prakash takes over as SAIL chairman, succeeds Soma Mondal

Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Wednesday said Amarendu Prakash on Wednesday assumed the charge as the company's Chairman. He succeeds Soma Mondal, who retired from the post on April 30, 2023. In a regulatory statement, SAIL said, "Amarendu Prakash, Director (in-charge at SAIL's Bokaro Steel Plant (BSL), SAIL) has joined as Chairman SAIL w.e.f. May 31, 2023". A B.Tech in Metallurgy from BIT Sindri, Prakash is an accomplished technocrat and possesses over 30 years of experience, comprising 24 years in plant operations at BSL, 4 years at the Chairman's office in SAIL, and 2 years as a Director on SAIL Board as an In-charge of BSL. He began his career at SAIL in 1991, with a posting in rolling mills. SAIL, under the Ministry of Steel, is the country's largest steel-making company, with an annual capacity of around 21 million tonnes.

Debt-to-earnings ratio of steel makers to remain below 2 times: Crisil

Research firm Crisil Ratings on Monday said it expects the net debt-to-EBITDA ratio of domestic steel manufacturers to stay below the level of 2 times in the financial year 2023-24. The steel makers had reported the ratio of net debt to EBITDA in the range of 1.6-1.7 times in preceding financial year (FY) 2022-23, Crisil Ratings said in a report. "Domestic primary steel manufacturers are likely to see their leverage, in terms of net debt to earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) ratio, remain below 2.0 times this fiscal (compared to an estimated 1.6-1.7 times in fiscal 2023) despite undertaking capital expenditure to cater to growing demand," it said. With the leverage much lower than the average of 3.5 times, seen during past five fiscals, the median credit quality of the sector is unlikely to be affected as balance sheets of the players will remain healthy. Further, project risks are expected to be low due to the brownfield nature of bulk of the ...

Indian Steel Association, AISC partner to unlock opportunities in steel

Industry body Indian Steel Association (ISA) on Thursday announced signing an agreement with ASEAN Iron and Steel Council (AISC) to unlock new avenues of growth and sustainability in steel sector. ISA is the apex industry body which represents the issues and interests of the domestic steel industry. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two organisations was signed on Sunday May 21, 2023 in Manila, Philippines, ISA said in a statement. "ISA and AISC signed a MoU for bilateral cooperation. It aims to leverage the strengths, expertise, and resources of both organizations to unlock new avenues for growth, innovation, and sustainability in the steel industry," it said. The delegation from India was led by ISA president and AMNS India CEO Dilip Oommen and ISA Secretary General Alok Sahay, while AISC President and President Director of PT Krakatau Steel Purwono Widodo attended the MoU signing. Widodo emphasised the significance of the steel industry in both India and ASEAN .

Around 40 MT new steel capacity to be commissioned by FY26: Assocham

Around 40 million tonne (MT) of new steel-making capacity will be commissioned by 2025-26, an industry executive said on Thursday. Vinod Nowal -- the Chairman of Assocham's National Council on Iron and Steel -- made the remarks at India Steel Summit in the national capital. Domestic steel production capacity is expected to touch 300 MT and crude steel production is likely to reach 255 MT by FY31, he said. Nowal, who is also the chairman of JSW Bhushan Power and Steel Ltd, said, "Fresh steel capacities of accumulating to 35-40 MT per annum are lined up for commissioning by FY26". As per the industry body Indian Steel Association (ISA), India's total installed steel-making capacity was 154 MT as of March 2023. Another 40 MT capacity addition by FY26 will scale it up to 194 MT.

JSW Steel to consider raising of long-term funds; board meeting on 19 May

The board will also consider the recommendation of payment of dividends on the equity shares

Steel industry raises concerns over EU's carbon border tax with govt

The steel ministry on Wednesday held a meeting with the industry players over the European Union's move to impose carbon tax, sources said. The meeting comes amid the carbon border adjustment mechanism (CBAM) being implemented by the European Union, which would have an adverse impact on India's exports of metals such as iron, steel and aluminium products to the EU, they said. The EU is introducing CBAM from October 1 this year. The new mechanism will translate into a 20-35 per cent tax on select imports into the EU starting January 1, 2026. On the request of the representatives of various steel companies and industry bodies the steel ministry held a meeting on Wednesday evening. "In the hybrid meeting chaired by steel secretary Nagendra Nath Sinha, the industry raised the issue of CBAM, saying it violates several articles of the WTO," sources said. They also noted that post imposition of the tax regime, India will become vulnerable to dumping of steel items by various countries, w

Weekend Bites: Pause not pivot, GDP, Doge, and litti-chokha for thought

In which we munch over the week's platter of news and views

SAIL-BSP gets licence to produce new grades of wire rods

The High Carbon IS 7904 HC38 & HC 80 grade steel wire rod is high value-added steel developed through SMS 3 - WRM route

JSPL gets nod to manufacture India's first fire-resistant steel structures

Jindal Steel and Power Ltd (JSPL) on Sunday said it will manufacture India's first fire-resistant steel structures at its unit in Raigarh, Chhatisgarh. With the production of a special steel item for the first time in India, the company will target segments like refineries, bridges, metro projects, industrial structures, steel, power plants, hospitals, commercial and residential buildings, JSPL said in a statement. "JSPL has received BIS certification to manufacture India's first fire-resistant steel structures at its rail mill in Chhattisgarh. The BIS 15103 grade steel structural steels are designed to withstand temperatures up to 600 degrees celsius for 3 hours," it said. The grade is being imported at present. The new grade steel structures will help the nation to reduce dependence on imports, the company said. "The license provided to the company will be a game-changer in strengthening India's infrastructure & its safety standards. Fire-resistant steel will provide much-needed

India's April-February finished steel exports slump 52%: Govt data

Major steelmakers reported a drop in profits in the December quarter, in part because the government in May imposed the tax, which applied to exports of some intermediate steel products, such as bars

Rebuilding of Turkey post quake may spur steel demand from India: Industry

Since Turkey's own industry, a major player in world steel trade, has also been disrupted, demand from the western world may surge as well

Essar group returns to steel business with $8-billion investment

Setting up steel plant in Saudi, an iron pellet plant each in Odisha, US

Steel industry asks govt to ensure availability of 161 MT coking coal

The domestic steel industry has sought a roadmap to ensure 161 million tonnes of coking coal is available for scaling up the country's annual steel making capacity to 300 million tonnes by 2030. Coking coal and iron ore are the two key raw materials used for manufacturing steel through the blast furnace route. While iron ore is available domestically, the industry is dependent on imports for coking coal. At the sixth meeting of the Advisory Group for Integrated Steel Plants (ISP), a presentation on the roadmap to ensure availability of 161 MT of coking coal for future expansion of steel industry to 300 MT (Million Tonnes) capacity as per NSP 2017 was made by Indian Steel Association (ISA), sources said. The presentation was made to Union Minister for Steel Jyotiraditya Scindia and other senior officials of the ministry. It was agreed upon that future course of action may be charted for exploring the possibility of expanding the sources of coking coal especially from Russia, Mongoli

One year of Ukraine war: A roller-coaster ride for steel companies

In 2021, steel exports from the two countries stood at about 48 million tonnes, accounting for around 10% of global steel trade

ArcelorMittal, JSW in NMDC steel plant race; JSPL also in the fray

Steel company shares to be listed on Monday

Steel firm AM/NS India's EBITDA drops 62.75% to $162 mn in Dec quarter

Joint venture firm says lower selling price and India's duty on steel exports last year impacted business

Essar on a new path of growth, to invest in energy, steel, mining sectors

Armed with substantially lighter balance sheet after repaying Rs 2 lakh crore debt, Essar is embarking on the next phase of growth by investing in hydrogen projects, building LNG import facility and retail chain, and setting up steel plants. Prashant Ruia, director, Essar Capital Ltd, said Essar currently owns businesses in the core sectors of energy, metals and mining, infrastructure, services and technology and its future plans centre around them. It is looking to set up steel plants in Odisha and Saudi Arabia and a facility to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) at Hazira in Gujarat. In the UK, where it owns an oil refinery, the group is setting up a blue hydrogen plant and is exploring opportunities to set up a green ammonia unit in India. Essar has set up a unit to retail LNG to trucks and will set up a chain of outlets dispensing the environment-friendly fuel. "We have completed what is certainly the one of the biggest, if not the biggest, deleveraging exercise by repaying Rs

Steel maker Kamdhenu's Q3 net profit grows 82% to over Rs 12 crore

Steel maker Kamdhenu Ltd has posted an 82 per cent growth in its net profit during the December quarter at Rs 12.02 crore, on the back of increased revenues. The company had recorded Rs 6.6 crore net profit during October-December period of 2021-22 fiscal, Kamdhenu Ltd said in a statement on Friday. Its revenue from operations also rose 23 per cent to Rs 182.7 crore from Rs 149 crore in the year-ago period. At Rs 17.1 crore, the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) was 60 per cent higher from Rs 10.7 crore a year ago. "We have delivered strong performance in Q3 & 9M of FY23. For 9M FY23, our company reported revenue growth of 36 per cent y-o-y to Rs 565.2 crore, EBITDA growth of 26 per cent y-o-y to Rs 44.8 crore and PAT growth of 19 per cent y-o-y to Rs 30.3 crore," Kamdhenu CMD Satish Kumar Agarwal said. Kamdhenu Group recently listed its paints business Kamdhenu Ventures Ltd on the stock exchanges on January 24, post completion of the demerger

JSW Steel plans Rs 20,000-crore capex in FY24 for capacity expansion: Rao

The expansion would take JSW Steel's capacity to around 38 mt

Budget wishlist: Steel sector seeks anti-predatory measures against imports

While domestic steel prices have remained subdued, raw material costs have surged approximately by Rs 6,000 per metric tonnes.