Modernisation of Steel Plants

In a statement laid on the table of the Lok Sabha today the minister of Steel and Mines Shri Narendra Singh Tomar said that there are two steel producing Public Sector Undertakings under the administrative control of the Ministry of Steel namely, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL). SAIL has five integrated steel plants namely, Bhilai Steel Plant in Chhattisgarh, Rourkela Steel Plant in Odhisa, IISCO Steel Plant in West Bengal, Durgapur Steel Plant in West Bengal, Bokaro Steel Plant in Jharkhand and three special steel plants namely, Alloy Steel Plant in West Bengal, Salem Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu, Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant in Karnataka. RINL has one integrated steel plant namely, Vizag Steel Plant in Andhra Pradesh. During the financial year 2014-15, the capacity utilization of SAIL was 79% and that of RINL was 113%.

Steel is a deregulated sector and the role of Government is limited to that of a facilitator. The decisions to modernise and expand steel plants are essentially taken by the respective companies, based on commercial considerations. SAIL and RINL have undertaken modernization and expansion programme funded by their own sources. Modernization and expansion of Rourkela, IISCO, Durgapur, Bokaro & Salem Steel Plants of SAIL and Vizag steel plant of RINL have been completed. Modernization and expansion of Bhilai Steel Plant is likely to be completed by March, 2016.