Steel Authority of India ltd (SAIl) has supplied defence grade 'DMR 249A' steel plates for the indigenously built Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW) stealth corvette INS – Kiltan which was commissioned on October 16 into Indian Navy, a BSP press release informed.
It is the third of the four indigenously built AWS stealth corvettes under project 28 (Kamorta class) to join Indian Navy after sister ships INS Kamorta and INS Kadmatt, it informed.
SAIl’s integrated functioning across all its Plants has again successfully supplied the required quantity of steel for this significant project.
SAIl has also supplied 80 per cent steel required for construction of the Sardar Sarovar Project inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Gujarat recently.
Once again partnering in one of the most prestigious and important national projects, SAIl supplied around 85,000 tonnes of steel (TMT) for the entire Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam ltd (SSNNl) project, which comprises all the canals throughout Gujarat, which are connected to Narmada River and Dam. The Sardar Sarovar project is the second largest concrete gravity dam (by volume) and has the world's third largest spillway discharging capacity, a Steel Ministry press release informed.
The Sardar Sarovar Dam is a gravity dam built on Narmada river near Navagam, Gujarat, which will benefit four Indian States namely Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharastra and Rajasthan. A part of the Narmada Valley Project, it will help in irrigation and electrical power supply. It is a part of a large hydraulic engineering project involving the construction of a series of large irrigation and hydroelectric multi-purpose dams on the Narmada river. One of the 30 dams planned on river Narmada, Sardar Sarovar Dam (SSD) is the largest structure to be built. The project will irrigate more than 18,000 m2 (190,000 sq ft), most of it in drought prone areas of Kutch and Saurashtra. The total installed capacity of the power facilities is 1,450 MW.
SAIl has been supplying steel for many prestigious projects taken by the Government for fast- paced infrastructure development of the country.
Chairman of Steel Authority of India ltd (SAIl), PK Singh has said that the company’s state-of-the-art 'New Universal Rail Mill' at its Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) has world's longest single piece rail of 130 metres length being produced where supplies of welded 260 metres rail panels to Indian Railways is in progress.
The already operational new facilities under modernisation and expansion were ramped up during the year, he said while addressing SAIl's 45th Annual General Meeting held in New Delhi on Friday, a Ministry of Steel press release informed.
The SAIl Chairman was confident of improvement in company’s performance starting this financial year (FY 2017-18) backed by several management initiatives in every area of operations.
Singh said that, “Given the current stage of development in Indian economy and the likely growth path for Country's economy in next decade, the steel demand in India will witness significant growth in future. SAIl with newer and better technologies at its disposal aims to leverage potential of growth in steel demand by operating at rated capacities, product differentiation and customer satisfaction.” World steel association too, in its short range outlook has a forecast of 6.1 per cent growth in steel consumption for India in 2017.
The Company since inception has produced 475 Million Tonnes (MT) of Crude steel and has partnered in all major national projects requiring steel.
Singh added that, “the Company achieved 14 per cent higher turnover during FY 2016-17 over previous year owing to increase in both sales volume (which grew by 8 per cent) and Net Sales Realisation (NSR) of Saleable Steel of five Integrated Steel Plants by about 6 per cent. The increase in NSR was partly due to an overall improvement in price levels and partly due to measures in enriching Company's product mix.”
Sharing the developments on Company’s endeavors towards product value addition, the SAIl Chairman added that, “SAIl has done significant value addition in its product mix, with higher grades of steel like API X-70 from RSP's New Plate Mill for the oil & gas sector, SAIl HT-600 for the automotive sector and high strength lPG steel grade from Bokaro Steel Plant, etc.
Continuous product development efforts are being made with intensive R&D efforts especially from the new State of the art mills commissioned under the Modernisation and Expansion Plan. Amongst the Indian steel producers your company continues to be in the forefront in R&D with the highest spending. New Blast Furnace at Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) achieved about 100 per cent of its capacity, whereas, other facilities like the New Plate Mill (NPM) also produced near to their rated capacities and it is very near to operating at 100 per cent of its capacity.”
He also added that the Wire Rod Mill of ISP will be soon producing world class Wire rods in special grades to meet the requirement of the Indian and Global Steel industries.
Singh also sounded assured of the global trends in steel industry, and said that, “World economic recovery is on track and a pickup in Global growth presents a healthy sign for industrial and manufacturing activities across globe.
Meanwhile, India is projected to become the world's fifth largest economy in 2017, surpassing UK and France and the world's third largest economy by 2023, surpassing Japan and Germany. India's GDP is projected to rise from USD 2.2 trillion in 2016 to USD 3.6 trillion by 2020. This augurs well for businesses that are focused on domestic growth in the future.” He added that such kind of growth will definitely create larger steel demand and boost consumption in country, he said.
Throwing light on Company’s new initiatives towards remodelling its operations, Singh mentioned that, “drives including SAIl steel - 'Gaon ki ore', a campaign designed to boost SAIl steel consumption in rural India, SAIl Uday for improving SAIl’s all round performance, SAIl management’s large group interactions at every Plant — for improving cross functioning within organisation, adopting social media at large to engage a larger audience etc will all translate into Company’s better, sounder and stronger performance. At a time when domestic steel demand is improving on back of government backed policies and developmental goals, SAIl is also expeditiously equipping itself to serve market requirements fully and claim broader market share.