Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is planning to embark on a Rs.23,000-crore expansion to make flat products, its new Chairman-cum-Managing Director Amarendra Prasad Choudhary said. He took over from P. K. Bishnoi, who laid down office on superannuation after a five-year term.
Talking to this correspondent, Mr. Choudhary said that the detailed project report being prepared by Dasturco, was expected shortly. “We are looking at a capacity of four million tonnes,” he said.
He also said that by November, trial production would start marking the commissioning of the main plants of RINL's expansion programme, which aims at taking the capacity to 6.2 million tonnes from three million tonnes now. The commissioning of the auxiliary plants on which nearly 45 per cent of the Rs.12,300-crore capital expenditure budget had been spent, had already begun.
Additionally, RINL will implement a Rs.7,000-crore plant to restore the health of its two-decade-old units bringing in new technology. “This upgradation of its existing assets will increase capacity by one million tonnes”.
Funding of all these plants will be through a mix of debt and internal accruals. Meanwhile, RINL, whose ‘Achilles' heel' is its lack of raw material linkages, was planning to revive the closed iron ore mines of the Bird Group of companies, he said.
It may be mentioned that Mr. Choudhary was the director, projects, of RINL since June 2009. His prior assignments included Rourkela Steel Plant of the Steel Authority of India Ltd where he was associated with the modernisation project.
