The management of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited on Tuesday defended its decision to invest Rs.1,000-crore in forged wheel plant at Rae Bareli and Rs.278 crore-axle plant at New Jalpaiguri saying it was required as part of its diversification plan.
Addressing the senior executives on the occasion of New Year, RINL Chairman-cum-Managing Director A.P. Choudhary expressed happiness over the improved performance of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant during the last two months giving hope and confidence that the Navratna company would meet its MoU targets in the current fiscal.
In an oblique reference to criticism over investments being made in Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal allegedly yielding to political pressure, he reiterated that setting up of seamless tube mill, axle, and wheel manufacturing plants were very much essential as a major diversification of its businesses, since RINL was going to add 500 mm dia Caster in its expansion.
This facility would not only capture the niche market but also improve the bottomline of the organisation, he added.
Key challenge
The RINL top brass said integration of new units in the expansion programme and optimisation of production were the key challenge before RINL Collective in 2013.
He earlier released the New Year calendar and diary brought out by the Corporate Communications Department in the presence of directors Umesh Chandra (operations), P. Madhusudan (finance), T.K. Chand (commercial), Y.R. Reddy (personnel), N.S. Rao (projects) and Chief Vigilance Officer B. Siddhartha Kumar.
Trade union leaders N. Rama Rao, D. Adinarayana, Mantri Rajsekhar, Ayodya Ram, V. Srinivasa Rao, Steel Executive Association president Satyanarayana and secretary T.K.S.R. Tagore were among those attended the meeting.
