New Delhi, April 19 The Union Steel Minister, Ram Chandra Prasad Singh, on Tuesday directed major steel CPSEs that include Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), NMDC and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) to ensure that their capital expenditure (capex) rise by 80 per cent from the current levels so that the capacity across the units reach 45 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) by 2030-31.

The steel PSUs current capacity stand at around 25 mtpa.

The Union Minister presided over the meeting with the steel companies – which also included MECON, KIOCL, MOIL and other senior officials of the ministry – where he reviewed the capex programmes. The capex target for FY23 (for steel CPSEs) has been pegged at ₹13,156.46 crore.

Related Stories
Tata Steel to consider stock split, dividend
The stock split will improve trading liquidity and make it more affordable.
READ NOW

In FY22, the capex stood at ₹10,038 crore, a 38 per cent increase, over the ₹7,266.70 crore worth of capex carried out in FY21.

Singh has also asked companies to adhere to their monthly capex plans and closely monitor projects for ensuring time bound implementation and achievement of annual targets.

“Notwithstanding the pandemic, the steel sector has added capacity of 16.29 mtpa in the last five years to reach the capacity of 154.27 mtpa. Based on the present assessment, the government is confident of reaching 300 mtpa capacity by 2030-31. Most of the capacity expansion comes through brown field and some greenfield which may come from 2025-30,” a government statement said.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW