NEW DELHI: The Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) has achieved yet another record-breaking performance with a 23 per cent increase in post-tax profit during the first quarter of the current fiscal, despite soaring prices of imported coking coal and other inputs.

Briefing newspersons here on Friday on the unaudited financial results for the April-June quarter this year, the SAIL Chairman and Managing Director, V. S. Jain, said the profit after tax (PAT) at Rs. 1,386 crore was not only 23 per cent more than that posted in the same quarter last year but also the highest ever achieved by the steel major in any quarter.

During the quarter, SAIL's sales turnover at Rs. 8,412 crore was 29 per cent higher than that registered during the first three months of 2005-06. The improved financial performance, Mr. Jain said, was achieved despite a 27 per cent increase in the price of imported coking coal during the first quarter this fiscal as compared to the same period a year ago. The prices of other metallic inputs like zinc and aluminium were also very high, he said.

Owing to the strong market pull during the first quarter of 2006-07, SAIL achieved a record salable steel production of 3.1 million tonnes, showing a growth of nine per cent, coupled with a massive 30 per cent increase in sales at 2.45 million tonnes.

In keeping with its efforts to become a virtual debt-free company, SAIL succeeded in reducing its borrowings from Rs. 4,298 crore as on March 31, 2006, to Rs. 4,000 crore on June 30 this year. Its interest outgo during the quarter was markedly lower at Rs. 94 crore, as was its manpower with a reduction of 1,090 through natural and voluntary separations during April-June 2006.

Nod for expansion plans

The SAIL board on Friday accorded in-principle approval to six projects, involving a total expenditure of over Rs. 11,000 crore. Leading the list is a proposal for expansion of the IISCO steel plant at a cost of Rs. 9,592 crore.

Among the major facilities to be installed as part of the IISCO project include a seven-metre tall coke oven battery, two 204 sq. m. sinter machines, a new blast furnace of 4,600 cu. m. capacity, three 150-tonne converters, two six-strand billet casters and one four-strand beam blank/bloom caster and a new wire rod and bar mill of 1.2 million tonne capacity. The board also approved installation of a modern bar and rod mill for Durgapur steel plant (DSP) at an estimated cost of Rs 738 crores.

Projects worth nearly Rs. 6,000 crore are now under implementation. SAIL has laid a thrust on capacity expansion to achieve its new target of producing 22.5 million tonnes of hot metal in about four years, Mr. Jain said.

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