(a) the number of steel plants in the country, at present, State-wise;
(b) the number of profit making / sick steel plants, out of the above;
(c) whether the Government proposes to revive the sick steel plants;
(d) if so, the details thereof alongwith the expenditure likely to be incurred thereon;
(e) whether the Government has ascertained the reasons for some public sector steel plants running into losses;
(f) if so, the details thereof; and
(g) the action proposed / taken in this regard?
MINISTER OF CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS AND MINISTER OF STEEL (SHRI RAM VILAS PASWAN)
(a)to(g): A Statement is laid on the Table of the Lok Sabha.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (A) TO (G) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.371 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19/12/2005 TABLED BY S/SHRI NIKHIL KUMAR AND BRAJESH PATHAK, MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT REGARDING STEEL PLANTS IN THE COUNTRY
(a) The number of steel plants, State-wise, under public and private sector in the country is given at Annexure.
(b) There are no sick steel plants in the public sector. Financial performance of the private sector steel plants is not monitored by the Government.
(c)&(d): Does not arise in view of (b) above.
(e)to(f): All plants including subsidiaries of SAIL are making profits except Alloy Steel Plant (ASP) and Salem Steel Plant (SSP) which have registered marginal losses of Rs.16 crores and Rs.10 crores respectively during the first half of the current year. Even though ASP has been showing steady improvement in performance, it suffered a loss during H1 2005-06 primarily because it has low volume of finished products resulting in lower net sales realization, which is not able to compensate for escalation in input material cost such as scrap, nickel and ferro-alloys. Despite making marginal profit during 2003-04 and 2004-05 SSP has sustained a loss during the first half of 2005-06 because it has been adversely affected due to volatility in demand and reduction in prices of stainless steel in the international market
(g) To improve the performance of its Steel Plants, SAIL has prepared a corporate plan 2012 based on market, business and technical analysis for the concerned steel plants. A total investment of about Rs. 2,000 crores is envisaged for Special Steel Plants in the Corporate Plan, out of which Rs. 460 crores and Rs. 1,266 crores will be spent on ASP and SSP respectively. The performance of ASP has already improved since it has made marginal profit in the last quarter of 2004-05 and reduced its losses during 2005-06 till date. To improve the financial performance of ASP, Argon-Oxygen-Decarborization (AOD) facility is being installed. The modernization plan for SSP is under finalization by SAIL.
Annexure
List of steel plants, State-wise, under public and private sector in the country
1. Public Sector
Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) State
i. Bokaro Steel Plant Jharkhand ii Bhilai Steel Plant Chhattisgarh iii Rourkela Steel Plant Orissa iv Durgapur Steel Plant West Bengal V Alloy Steel Plant West Bengal Vi Vishveshvarya Steel Plant Karnataka Vii Salem Steel Plant Tamil Nadu viii Indian Iron & Steel Co. (Subsidiary) West Bengal
Rashitriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL)
i Vishakhapatnam Steel Plant. Andhra Pradesh
2. Private Sector (Main producers, Major Producers and Secondary Producers, as on 1.8.2005.
State wise details of Steel Plants :-
Region State Number
North Uttar Pradesh 93 Chandigarh 2 Delhi 10 Haryana 31 Himachal Pradesh 11 Jammu & Kashmir 5 Punjab 101 Rajasthan 23 Uttaranchal 23 Total 299 South Tamil Nadu 33 Pondicherry 22 Karnataka 7 Kerala 25 Andhra Pradesh 10 Total 97 East West Bengal 38 Orissa 44 Jharkhand 24 Bihar 7 Meghalaya 10 Assam 7 Total 130 West Chhattisgarh 43 Dadra Nagar Haveli 18 Daman 9 Goa 18 Gujarat 57 Maharashtra 72 Madhya Pradesh 17
Total 234
All India 760
(Source : Joint Plant Committee)