The Hindu Business Line : RINL marks silver jubilee on high note

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Visakhapatnam Feb 15 The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL), which is celebrating its silver jubilee this month, has crossed many hurdles in the past 25 years and is set for a bright future, said Mr Y. Sivasagara Rao, Chairman and Managing Director.

Going down memory lane at a press meet here on Thursday, Mr Rao recalled that an agitation had taken place in the late 1960s for setting up a steel plant in Andhra Pradesh and 32 persons had lost their lives.

Striking a personal note, he said he was then a student of the Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University (JNTU) engineering college at Kakinada and that he too had participated in the agitation.

"I did not imagine at that time that I would head the steel plant and it is a matter of great honour and pride for me that during my tenure the expansion of the plant from 3 million tonnes to 6 million tonnes is being taken up," he said. He said he was due to retire after two months.

Early delays

Mr Rao said the foundation stone for the plant was laid by Indira Gandhi in 1971 but due to a fund crunch the project could not be taken up. "The RINL was formed on February 18, 1982, after a long delay and there was cost escalation and the project had to be rationalised in the late eighties.

The universal beam component was given up and finally the plant could become operational in the early nineties. The late Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao dedicated the plant to the nation," he said.

He said the plant had started with an initial loss of Rs 2,000 crore and after many trials and tribulations it finally achieved a turnaround by 2002. "Since then, the plant has not looked back. It is set to scale greater heights," he said.

He said the capacity of the plant would be gradually increased from 3.2 million tonnes to 16 million tones by 2017-2018.

During the current year, it achieved a sales turnover of Rs 6,143 crore from April to December. "We are expecting to cross the Rs 9,000 crore mark by the end of the year. We could export Rs 360 crore worth of products," he said.

He said RINL was forming a joint venture with Manganese Ore India Ltd to produce ferro-alloys. A pellet plant was planned with the NMDC in Chhattisgarh. Besides, a joint venture would be formed with the NTPC for setting up a gas-based turbine combined cycle power plant.

The silver jubilee would be celebrated from February 18 to 20. Mr Ram Vilas Paswan, the Union Steel Minister, will address the valedictory meeting.

More Stories on : Performance | Steel | Events | Andhra Pradesh

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