21st February, 2003
Ministry of Steel  


STEEL MINISTER ASKS BRL TO CONCENTRATE ON REVIVAL PACKAGE


LOK SABHA

The production and sales of the Bharat Refractories Limited (BRL) Bokaro, a public sector unit of the Steel Ministry, during the first nine months of this fiscal have shown substantial growth. The production has gone up to 24119 tonnes from 21997 tonnes in the same period last year and the sales improved from Rs. 36 crore to Rs. 43 crore. This information was given to the Minister of Steel, Shri Braja Kishore Tripathy who was reviewing its April-December performance yesterday.

The Minister was apprised that the company has reduced its net loss during the period from Rs. 30.79 crore during April-December 2001-02 to Rs. 24.2 crore. The Minister said that under the revival package recently approved for the company, the Government has already released Rs. 90 crore for implementing VRS and Rs. 55 crore for clearing statutory dues of the employees who have opted for VRS. Necessary approval for extending guarantee for raising working capital loan has also been obtained from the Finance Ministry. Steps are being taken to expedite capital restructuring and waiver of guarantee fees.

Shri Tripathy asked the company to take full advantage of the package and bring down the manpower to the required level to cut losses. He also advised to focus on maximising turnover and cutting costs.