Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) has launched a rural dealership scheme in Karnataka to increase the consumption of steel in rural India. According to this scheme, RINL wants to appoint rural dealerships in all blocks and panchayats.

Speaking to the media, Mr Pradeep Kumar Bishnoi, CMD, RINL, said, “Rural India consumes only 15 kg per capita as opposed to China, where the consumption of steel is 500 kg per capita.” In order to make the process simple, all that an applicant has to submit is an affidavit stating that he is financially capable of becoming a dealer. “He will, however, need the working capital,” said Mr Bishnoi.

RINL would also take up the responsibility to deliver the steel to the doorstep of the rural dealers, thus, saving them this expense. Rural dealers could expect to make around Rs 1,000 a tonne of steel.

The scheme, which was introduced in Karnataka on Saturday, has already been introduced in Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. Currently, there are 10 rural dealers in Karnataka, and Mr Bishnoi said that this number is expected to climb up to 200 in a phased manner. The company, which currently has an annual capacity of 3 million tonnes (mt) of liquid steel is also investing Rs 12,500 crore to more than double its capacity and bring it to 6.3 mt per annum.