Visa Steel Ltd plans Rs 1,000 cr plant in Chhattisgarh

Mumbai, May 29 (UNI) Visa Steel Ltd has decided to set up an integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh at an estimated cost of around Rs 1,000 crore and is expected to be completed in the next five years.

''Initially, we would be setting up a one million tonne rolling mill, which would need an investment of around Rs 600 crore and technical feasibility report for the project would be ready by July. We would mainly manufacture long products there. The plant would be set up over 150 acres, land for which has already been acquired. We will go for further expansion at a later stage,'' said Vishambhar Saran, Chairman of Visa Steel Ltd, in a release here.

Meanwhile, Visa Steel has posted a net profit of Rs 43.15 crore during fiscal 2007-08, which is a 110 per cent increase over the previous fiscal's figure of Rs 20.52 crore. Total revenue during the fiscal under review increased 27 per cent to Rs 682.81 crore (Rs 537.93 crore).

Visa Steel managing director Vishal Agarwal said the company's board had recommended a dividend of 10 per cent to shareholders.

''The growth in revenue and profits during the current fiscal, have been driven by better realisations across products such as pig iron, coke and ferro chrome combined with higher volume growth in the coke and ferro chrome operations. The company intends to remain a globally-competitive, world-class integrated steel producer in Orissa, with captive power generation and backward linkages for raw material,'' Mr Agarwal was quoted as saying in the release.

The Visa Steel stock rose 1.86 per cent to close at Rs 60.15 on the Bombay Stock Exchange, it added.

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