SAIL ASKED TO SUSTAIN ITS Q1 PROGRESS
Steel Authority of
India Limited (SAIL) should take advantage of the favourable market
conditions in India and abroad and make all out attempts to improve
its performance for a turn around this year, said today, the Minster
for Steel, Shri Braja Kishore Tripathy while reviewing its performance
during the first quarter of this fiscal. Appreciating the Q1 performance,
Shri Tripathy asked SAIL to sustain the trend of progress and
make determined efforts to earn net profit. He emphasized on more
cost cutting measures to improve the profitability. Shri Tripathy
asked the authorities to expedite the business restructuring packages.
SAIL during Q1 of
this fiscal has made an operating profit of 346 crore and increased
its income from sales by Rs.985 crore. It has achieved lowest
ever energy consumption and substantially reduced consumption
of refractories. It has sold more than 2 million tonnes of steel,
38% more than the sales of the corresponding period of last year.
In the export front, the company has also made spectacular progress.
Saleable steel production during the quarter has gone up by 5%.
The SAIL plants are hopeful that the performance would get accelerated
from September onwards and the company would get more profit.
The Chairman,
SAIL, Shri Arvind Pande was hopeful that the revived market trend
would continue and contribute to higher sale. He expected that
the gross margin and net profit at the end of this year would
be eye-catching. The Minister commended the efforts put in by
Shri Pande and his team of officials in steering the PSU through
one of the most difficult periods of the steel industry.
