SAIL, RINL to invest Rs 50,000 Crores in next 3 years

New Delhi, Apr 22 (UNI) Two major public sector steel companies Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) has drawn up massive investment plans amounting to over Rs 50,000 crore over the next three years to meet the growing domestic demand.

According to steel ministry sources, SAIL is currently producing around 13 Million Tones (MT) which would be raised to around 23 MT by 2010. The process has already begun towards acheiving this target.

Similarly, RINL will also be doubling its capacity from four MT to 8 MT during the same period.

The Steel Ministry is making long term preparations to enable the country's steel industry become the second largest producer in the world by 2015-16, with an anticipated steel production level of 120 MT which would be further enhanced to 180 MT by 2019-20.

The sources said the Government had done a study on the demand-supply scenario to avoid a glut situation in the medium to long term. In India the per capita consumption of steel stands very low at about 38 Kgs. There is immense scope for further increase in the domestic demand, they felt.

UNI