Comments
With lower net sales realisation and higher finance cost, steel major SAIL has reported a decline in net profit by over 23 per cent during the quarter ended December 31.
However, the company has declared an interim dividend at the rate of 16 per cent.
Steel production
Chairman and Managing Director C. S. Verma said, “Net sales realisation in the third quarter (October-December) was overall down by 5.78 per cent. It was 8.14 per cent for flat product and 2.72 per cent for the long product.” This impacted the profitability though the sales turnover grew by nearly 1 per cent to 11,801 crore, he added.
He also said globally steel prices are coming down and India is not an exception which has resulted in lower sales realisation. However, he wasoptimistic when he said that steel production in India is much higher than the world data. In the calendar year 2012, world production grew by just 1.2 per cent, while for India this figure was 4.3 per cent. Simultaneously, consumption is also growing.
About the modernisation and expansion projects, Verma said orders worth Rs 58,000 crore have been placed.
These projects also resulted in higher borrowing and higher expenses. The company borrowed over Rs 6,500 crore in the first nine months of the current fiscal. This raised the other expenses to Rs 1,753 crore from Rs 1,428 crore.
The company claimed that as a result of modernisation and expansion, the new sinter plant has commenced production at Rourkela Steel Plant.
The new Coke Oven Battery and the blast furnace at this plant are also ready and are likely to start production in a couple of months. At ISP, Burnpur, despatches from the new sinter plant to Bokaro Steel Plant have already begun.
The new Coke Oven Battery, the Power & Blowing Station and the Wire Rod Mill are also ready for operations from this month at Burnpur.
Sindri Project
Giving details of the Sindri Project, Verma said as soon as the Fertiliser Corportaion of India comes out of BIFR (Board for Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction), the process will be accelerated, as this will help acquire land.
“We hope that the company should come out in next three months,” he said.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.