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Kohinoor Mandal

Kolkata , June 9

SALEM Steel Plant, the stainless steel manufacturing wing of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), will soon be more visible in the domestic retail market with stainless steel utensils.

Last year, Salem Steel increased its stainless utensil manufacturing capacity by engaging nine conversion agents. These agents get steel from Salem Steel and convert it into utensils for a fee.

According to Mr M. Roy, Executive Director of Salem Steel, these agents, located in Kolkata, Chennai, Coimbatore, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Hyderabad, were appointed only a few months ago.

"Salem Steel has entered into an agreement with Bharat Petroleum, whereby our products will be available in the retail outlets of BPCL," Mr Roy told Business Line.

Salem Steel has gone in a big way for the institutional sale of its utensils. Its clients are Indian Airlines, IIT, Coal India, NTPC and the Tamil Nadu Government for its mid-day meal scheme for school children.

The plant is planning to open its own retail outlets, one in Chennai and the other in Kolkata. It is also contemplating setting up a dealer-distributor network.

"Our idea is to spread our products to a large section of the market. At present, our earnings from the utensil business is nominal but there is tremendous potential and we would like to tap it during this year," he said.

During 2004-05, Salem Steel's turnover was approximately Rs 1,000 crore. In the current year, the turnover is targeted at Rs 1,450-1,500 crore. The plant's net profit increased from Rs 1.94 crore in 2003-04 to Rs 3.48 crore in 2004-05.

SAIL has already worked out an Rs 1,136-crore modernisation plan for Salem Steel as a part of the company's Corporate Plan 2011-12. Once it is over, the plant's annual capacity would increase from 1.80 lakh tonnes to 3.70 lakh tonnes.

Salem Steel has joined hands with Calcutta Mint, a division of Reserve Bank of India, and has jointly participated in a global tender for the production of Bangladeshi currency coins.

Unlike other SAIL units, Salem Steel is into exports in a big way to South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, US, Egypt, Turkey, Bangladesh and others. During 2004-05, it exported 67,000 tonnes of stainless steel against domestic sales of 27,000 tonnes.

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