SAIL, RINL chalk out over Rs 48k cr modernisation plans

New Delhi, Mar 2 (UNI) Two major public sector steel-making companies, the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), have initiated ambitious modernisation and expansion plans worth more than Rs 48,000 crore.

Accordng to official sources, SAIL's plans envisage an increase in its annual hot metal production to 23.8 million tonnes (MT) per annum by the year 2010 at a current tentative cost of around Rs 40,000 crore.

The present level of production of hot metal stands at 14.6 (MT) per annum acheived during 2005-06.

Similarly, RINL proposes to enhance its capacity from the present level of 3.4 MT of hot metal to 6.5 MT per annum by the year 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs 8,692 crore.

As per the plan of SAIL, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) is also being modernised and expanded to increase production of hot metal from 0.20 MT to 0.33 MT per annum.

VISP is a part of SAIL, which is a Navratna Company, hence the Central Government approval is not required for the modernisation plans.

UNI