Union Steel Secretary G. Mohan Kumar on Wednesday said disinvestment of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited would be taken up during the current fiscal even as the unions declared their decision to go on strike to stall the move.
Mr. Mohan Kumar, who was on a visit to RINL, the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, told reporters, after inaugurating modernisation of Blast Furnace-1 and sinter heat recovery power plant worth Rs.900 crore, that the disinvestment of the profit-making company was in the air for quite sometime.
Asked whether it would be completed by November 16, the day the Navratna status accorded to RINL would expire unless it became a listed company before it, he said “I think it (the process) might be completed before that.”
Admitting that lack of captive mines was a big drawback for RINL, he said the Rajasthan Government had already allotted iron ore blocks in Bhilwara. ”We are hopeful that something will materialise in other States including Andhra Pradesh,” he stated.
To a question on AP Reorganisation Act about exploring the establishment of a steel plant at Bayyaram in Telangana, he said the steel major was conducting a feasibility study. Asked whether such a mention would automatically put an end to RINL’s plan to procure iron ore mines at Bayyaram, he said it all depended on the prerogative of the State Government.
Merger ruled out
On the demand for merger of RINL with National Mineral Development Corporation, he said there was no such possibility. He also ruled out construction of a captive jetty by RINL at Gangavaram saying there was already a minor port on its backyard.
He said the BJP-led NDA Government was in the process of formulating a new steel policy and declined to comment on policy incentives to be offered to raise India’s steel production.
