The Hindu Business Line : Durgapur Steel Plant set to report highest-ever profit

DURGAPUR Steel Plant (DSP), one of the four integrated units of Steel Authority of India Ltd, is set to register its highest-ever annual turnover and net profit.

According to sources in SAIL, the plant is likely to record a net profit of Rs 700 crore on a turnover of Rs 4,000 crore in 2004-05. DSP's previous highest net profit was Rs 81 crore recorded in 2003-04. In the first quarter of 2004-05, DSP surpassed that figure by logging Rs 82 crore.

DSP had been registering losses for over two decades since registering a net profit of Rs 4.52 crore in 1981-82.

Like all other steel plants, DSP too was affected by the coking coal crisis in the first quarter of 2004-05. "The plant would have performed even better had it not faced the crisis", sources said.

For the first time in the 45-year history of DSP, the plant crossed the two-million-tonne hot metal production mark. Similarly, the production of crude steel and saleable steel also touched historic levels. While crude steel production increased by 2.8 per cent to end at 1.81 mt , saleable steel production grew by 1.2 per cent and ended at 1.63 mt during 2004-05.

Sources also said that DSP exported 92,000 tonnes of steel to South Asian countries after "fulfilling its domestic commitments".

In the finishing section, the wheel and axle plant recorded a 33 per cent growth, the continuous casting plant produced at 28 per cent above its capacity and the merchant mill, 12.5 per cent above the rated capacity.

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