SAIL supplies 6.2 lakh tonnes of rails to railways in FY17: Minister

DOMESTIC steel giant Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has supplied 6.20 lakh tonnes of rails to the Indian Railways in 2016-17, Parliament was informed on July 26. "Initially for 2016-17, Railway Board placed a bulk indent on SAIL for supply of 6,24,516 tonnes of rails, which was met by SAIL and it supplied 6,20,049 tonnes of rails during 2016-17 to Indian Railways," Minister of State for Steel Vishnu Deo Sai said in a written reply to Rajya Sabha. "However, the enhanced requirement of Railways i.e; supply of 8.2 lakh tonnes of rails during the year could not...
be met due to capacity constraints," the minister informed. But, with the ramping up of the new 1.2 million tonne Universal Rail Mill at Bhilai Steel Plant, SAIL has now capacity to meet additional demand of Indian Railways, he added. Sai further said: "The cumulative expenditure incurred by SAIL towards modernisation and expansion, mines and related sustenance schemes, till June 2017 is Rs 65,822 crore."
In a separate reply, the minister said, "SAIL has carried out modernisation and expansion programme at all the five major plants viz Bhilai (Chhattisgarh), Bokaro (Jharkhand), Rourkela (Odisha), Durgapur and Burnpur (WB) and special steel plant at Salem (Tamil Nadu)."
However, the Salem Steel Plant in Tamil Nadu, despite investment of Rs 1,902 crore has been incurring losses, he added.
SAIL, the steel giant, has played a key role in the development of infrastructure in the country. Earlier, SAIL has supplied around 90 percent or around 30,000 tonnes of steel, including TMT, structurals and plates, for Dhola-Sadiya Bridge in Assam, which is India's longest river bridge and was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 26.
SAIL is likely to enter into a big JV with ArcelorMittal which is in final stage. The proposed joint venture (JV) between world's largest steelmaker ArcelorMittal and domestic steel giant SAIL was inked to set up Rs 5,000 crore auto-grade steel plant. He said the JV will produce high-end steel based on latest technology. ArcelorMittal and SAIL had inked a pact in May 2015 to explore the possibility of setting up an automotive steel manufacturing unit under JV arrangement. The JV will construct world-class facilities that will offer technologically advanced steel products for India’s rapidly growing automotive sector. The country has four major auto clusters —- Pune-Chakan belt in Maharashtra, on the outskirts of Chennai in Tamil Nadu, Sanad in Gujarat and Gurgaon-Neemrana belt that covers two states, Haryana and Rajasthan. Steel Authority of India Limited is the largest steel-making PSU in India. SAIL produces iron and steel at five integrated plants and three special steel plants, located principally in the eastern and central regions of India and situated close to domestic sources of raw materials. SAIL manufactures and sells a broad range of steel products. The government of India currently owns about 75 percent of SAIL's equity and retains voting control of the PSU.