Rs 1,000 cr to be invested for reviving SAIL's VISL plant

PROVIDING some ray of hope for ailing PSUs, the NDA Government invest Rs 1,000 crore in the Steel Authority of India's VISL plant by modernising and expanding its capacity. This was announced by the union minister for steel & mines, Narendra Singh Tomar during his maiden visit to Visvesvaraya Iron & Steel Plant last week. The investment will...

be subject to recommendations of consultants and approval by the SAIL board.

"The ministry is trying to ensure availability of raw material to VISL and once that is done, the government intends to revive VISL by modernization and expansion of its facilities with an investment of Rs 1,000 crore. However, this investment will be subject to recommendations of the consultant and approval by SAIL board. We shall try to expedite the whole process," Tomar said in his address.

For raw material security, steps will be taken by the state govt. to allot 140 hectares in Bellary district to VISL, as soon as the case pending in High Court is settled.

V.I.S.L, established by M. Visvesvaraya, started operations in 1923 and the plant is a pioneer in the production of alloy & special steels. It has a wide customer base which includes defence, railways, automobile, engineering sector and the tool making industry.

Government data shows there are 61 sick central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) that had 1.53 lakh employees as on March 31, 2013. The government has been paying the salaries of all these employees largely through the budget. The Government has also taken some revival measures time and again to take some sick PSUs back on track. There is a proposal to make use of the surplus cash with rich PSUs for the revival of the ailing PSUs.  

The government had last year approved revival of seven sick central PSUs, including HMT Machine Tools and Tyre Corporation, through disinvestment or joint venture route.

The other sick CPSEs which will be revived are Tungabhadra Steel Products, HMT Bearings, Richardson & Cruddas Ltd, Central Inland Water Transport Corp and Hoogly Docks & Port Engineers Ltd.