Iron ore mining major NMDC Ltd plans to deploy a capital expenditure of ₹3,600 crore this year and ₹4,000 crore next fiscal. This is a part of the company’s long term plans to invest ₹40,000 crore for expansion and diversification by 2022.

Narendra Kothari, Chairman and Managing Director, said the recent Government moves to bring about certain restrictions on import of steel items has had positive impact on the domestic companies and the demand is also likely to pick up during the latter part of the year.

Speaking on the sidelines of the 57{+t}{+h} annual general meeting held here today, Kothari said NMDC has also begun discussions with some buyers in Japan to enter into long term export contracts. The existing arrangement for supply of ore expired in March 2015 where about 10 per cent of the produce was exported.

Amidst a challenging environment, he said: “it is heartening that the demand for NMDC’s iron ore remained encouraging, primarily due to higher domestic demand for quality iron ore.”

“Defying the market trend, NMDC was able to achieve record production and sales during the financial year 2015. We achieved the highest-ever iron ore production of 30.4 million tonnes and iron ore sales of 30.5 mt during 2014-15, crossing the 30-mt barrier for second year in succession,” he told shareholders.

Last fiscal, NMDC closed with a turnover of ₹12,356 crore and profit after tax of ₹6,422 crore.

NMDC shares closed at ₹91.22, down 2 per cent on the BSE on Tuesday.

Related Topics