SAIL steels April-Jan sales by 8% as exports rise 47%
4 Feb 2014 1:10 AM GMT
The rise in sales, which the state-run firm attributed to its efforts towards producing tailor-made products to meet the customer requirement, is despite a continuing slowdown in the steel market, SAIL said in a statement on Monday.
The domestic steel consumption grew by just 0.5 per cent during the April-December period of the current fiscal to 53.789 MT, impacted by the economic slowdown.
SAIL had sold 9.09 MT steel during the April-January period of the last fiscal. However, it did not give the quantity of exports during the reporting period of the current financial year.
Production of the company during the April-January period grew by 4 per cent to 10.74 MT. Sales of the company grew by 10 per cent to 1.14 MT in the first month of the new year.
The steel major is on the verge of completing a Rs 72,000 crore capacity expansion to take it to 24 MT from 14 MT now.
‘Most products in SAIL basket registered a considerable increase in sales this January, sales of flat steels rode the wave by growing by 23.5 per cent over the same month last year,’ it said.
Cumulative sales growth for flat steels in the ten-month period was 10.6 per cent over the corresponding period last year. Flat steels are mainly used in consumer durables and auto sectors, among others.
‘We are confident of maintaining the momentum in sales growth, which will be supported by production of better and wider range of products like universal beam, wire rods and wider plates from the new state-of-the-art facilities coming up in phases,’ SAIL Chairman C S Verma said.
‘The uptrend in the first month of 2014 is a firm indicator of the times to come,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Monday said that a blueprint to expand India’s steel capacity to 300 million tonnes (MT) is on the anvil.
‘A roadmap for achieving this (300 MT) target is under preparation,’ Verma said chairing the 24th meeting of Steel Consumers’ Council attached to his Ministry, held at Lucknow.
The remark comes against a backdrop of the government constituting a task force to prepare a blueprint for promoting research and development in the steel sector in a bid to help India treble its steel production capacity. The country’s steel capacity stands at 96 MT per annum at present.
‘Ten steel factories are to be set up at locations like Gonda, Barabanki, Lakhimpur, Hardoi, Jhansi, Kaisergunj, Mirzapur and Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich. Each plant will be set up at a cost of approximately Rs 100 crore and will provide employment to 200 people’, an official release quoted him to say.Another steel unit is also being set up at Jagdishpur which will have a 13,000 tonnes per annum capacity corrugation unit and a TMT Bar mill of capacity 1,50,000 tonnes per annum, the statement said adding, stockyards are also being set up at Gorakhpur and Gonda.
‘Due to ... efforts of the government, India is today the 4th largest steel producer in the world and the second best in terms of growth rate amongst top 10 steel producing countries,’ he said. India became a net exporter of steel during April - December, 2013, he said adding his ministry has also got the distinction of being the first ministry under the government to be awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification.
RBI ups PowerGrid FII cap to 30%
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday raised foreign institutional investors’ (FIIs) investment limit in Power Grid Corporation to 30 per cent of its paid up capital. FIIs, through primary market and stock exchanges, can now purchase up to 30 per cent of the paid up capital of Power Grid Corporation of India under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS), RBI said in a notification. The investment ceiling was raised following passing of such resolutions at the board of directors’ level and a special resolution by the shareholders.
FIIs can acquire and hold, on their own account and on behalf of each of their Sebi-approved sub-accounts, shares of the company up to an aggregate limit of 30 per cent of the paid up capital. FII holdings have been on the rise since the company’s first follow-on public offer in 2010.
The domestic steel consumption grew by just 0.5 per cent during the April-December period of the current fiscal to 53.789 MT, impacted by the economic slowdown.
SAIL had sold 9.09 MT steel during the April-January period of the last fiscal. However, it did not give the quantity of exports during the reporting period of the current financial year.
Production of the company during the April-January period grew by 4 per cent to 10.74 MT. Sales of the company grew by 10 per cent to 1.14 MT in the first month of the new year.
The steel major is on the verge of completing a Rs 72,000 crore capacity expansion to take it to 24 MT from 14 MT now.
‘Most products in SAIL basket registered a considerable increase in sales this January, sales of flat steels rode the wave by growing by 23.5 per cent over the same month last year,’ it said.
Cumulative sales growth for flat steels in the ten-month period was 10.6 per cent over the corresponding period last year. Flat steels are mainly used in consumer durables and auto sectors, among others.
‘We are confident of maintaining the momentum in sales growth, which will be supported by production of better and wider range of products like universal beam, wire rods and wider plates from the new state-of-the-art facilities coming up in phases,’ SAIL Chairman C S Verma said.
‘The uptrend in the first month of 2014 is a firm indicator of the times to come,’ he added.
Meanwhile, Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma on Monday said that a blueprint to expand India’s steel capacity to 300 million tonnes (MT) is on the anvil.
‘A roadmap for achieving this (300 MT) target is under preparation,’ Verma said chairing the 24th meeting of Steel Consumers’ Council attached to his Ministry, held at Lucknow.
The remark comes against a backdrop of the government constituting a task force to prepare a blueprint for promoting research and development in the steel sector in a bid to help India treble its steel production capacity. The country’s steel capacity stands at 96 MT per annum at present.
‘Ten steel factories are to be set up at locations like Gonda, Barabanki, Lakhimpur, Hardoi, Jhansi, Kaisergunj, Mirzapur and Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich. Each plant will be set up at a cost of approximately Rs 100 crore and will provide employment to 200 people’, an official release quoted him to say.Another steel unit is also being set up at Jagdishpur which will have a 13,000 tonnes per annum capacity corrugation unit and a TMT Bar mill of capacity 1,50,000 tonnes per annum, the statement said adding, stockyards are also being set up at Gorakhpur and Gonda.
‘Due to ... efforts of the government, India is today the 4th largest steel producer in the world and the second best in terms of growth rate amongst top 10 steel producing countries,’ he said. India became a net exporter of steel during April - December, 2013, he said adding his ministry has also got the distinction of being the first ministry under the government to be awarded ISO 9001:2008 certification.
RBI ups PowerGrid FII cap to 30%
Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday raised foreign institutional investors’ (FIIs) investment limit in Power Grid Corporation to 30 per cent of its paid up capital. FIIs, through primary market and stock exchanges, can now purchase up to 30 per cent of the paid up capital of Power Grid Corporation of India under the Portfolio Investment Scheme (PIS), RBI said in a notification. The investment ceiling was raised following passing of such resolutions at the board of directors’ level and a special resolution by the shareholders.
FIIs can acquire and hold, on their own account and on behalf of each of their Sebi-approved sub-accounts, shares of the company up to an aggregate limit of 30 per cent of the paid up capital. FII holdings have been on the rise since the company’s first follow-on public offer in 2010.
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