Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL)-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant has achieved a sales turnover of Rs 1,116 crore in August, according to a press release.
With this, the turnover has touched Rs 4,909 crore during April-August.
In spite of difficult market conditions in the domestic and global markets, RINL could sell 2.28 lakh tonnes of steel in August, a growth of 2 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
The inventory of saleable steel was reduced by about 12,000 tonnes during the month, adds the release.
Supplies of high-strength corrosion resistance rebars to projects during April-August registered a growth of 66 per cent over the corresponding period last year.
The company sold 15,000 tonnes of rebars through its rural distribution network, representing a growth of 103 per cent.
RINL has 336 rural dealers and is in the process of appointing 200 more shortly. Sales of by-products during April-August was Rs 243 crore, registering a growth of 39 per cent.
On the production front, RINL achieved 4 per cent growth in ‘average oven pushings’ and 7 per cent growth in ‘captive power generation’ upto August.
However, the production of iron and steel suffered heavily due to the declaration of “power holiday” for 3 days in a week by the State Government, apart from peak-hour load restrictions. Inadequate water supply is also an area of concern and though there is some improvement in the last week, the situation is still critical, according to the release.
Axle plant
In another press release issued here on Wednesday, RINL said Mamata Banerjee, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, has inaugurated the work on Uttarbanga RINL-RAIL Axle Manufacturing Plant at New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal at a cost of Rs 278 crore.
The Union Railway Minister, Mukul Roy, was also present on the occasion.
The unit will manufacture and supply rail axels for BOX N wagons and others to meet the growing requirement of the Railways.
The Railways have selected RINL to set up the state-of-the-art axle plant, considering its technological strengths in special grades of steel, says the release.