The Union Steel Secretary, Mr P.K Mishra, on Tuesday inaugurated the control room of the converter in the steel melt shop in the Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (the steel plant) built as a part of the expansion project. The expansion project, in the advanced stages, will take the capacity of RINL from the present 3 million tonnes to 6.3 mt.

Mr Mishra said on the occasion that the progress of the expansion project was quite satisfactory, although there was some inevitable delay in certain components, and expressed the hope that “the expansion units will soon start production so that the steel plant can recoup the amount spent on them. Already, more than Rs 10,000 crore has been spent on the project and Rs 3,000-4,000 crore will have to be spent further.”

Captive mines

He said the lack of captive iron ore mines was a critical issue and “we are making all attempts to secure for RINL captive iron ore mines in some state or the other. I myself have made attempts to get mines for RINL in Orissa. It is in the domain of the States and we can only persuade them.”

On the issue of iron ore exports, he said the view of the Union Steel Ministry was that all efforts should be made to conserve as much ore as possible, “but at the same time we cannot stop ore exports all at once. We have to take gradual steps. The Government has already imposed 20 per cent export duty on iron ore. We have recommended a further hike of 10 per cent or so.”

RINL performance

Mr Mishra said the performance of RINL on the techno-economic parameters was quite impressive, but “I hope there will be further improvement and it will become the best plant in the country.”

Mr A.P Choudhary, Chairman and Managing Director of RINL, accompanied him.

Earlier, on Monday evening, Mr Mishra addressed members of the local chapter of the Confederation of Indian Industry and told them that demand for steel was subdued in the first half of the year but it would rise in the second. “We are making all efforts to push India to the position of the second largest steel producer from the present one of the fifth and in future we will also be able to make significant strides on steel exports,” he said.

He, however, said the Indian steel plants would have to focus on four critical areas - better performance and operational efficiency to cut costs, more expenditure on R&D, especially on the use of raw material, quality control and the environmental angle. “I am sure our steel industry will make its presence felt globally if we take care of these areas,” he added.

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