NINL eyes six mtpa steel capacity in five years.

Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL), a steel PSU jointly promoted by trading firm MMTC Ltd and state controlled PSUs- Industrial Promotion & Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd. (Ipicol) and Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC), is aiming to expand its steel output to six million tonne a year from the existing level of 1.1 million tonne.

The capacity expansion is expected to happen in five years.

'We will expand our steel making capacity in three years. In the first phase, the capacity will be raised to 2.5 million tonne and we expect to achieve this in three years,' Gurminder Singh Gill, managing director, NINL said after meeting the state chief secretary G C Pati.

The cost of expansion is tentatively assessed at Rs. 30,000 crore out of which Rs. 4,000 crore has already been invested.

'We apprised the chief secretary on the operations of our plant. Our steel melting shop (SMS) is being stabilised,' Gill said.

He, however, refused to comment on the possibility of Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) picking up stake in NINL. SAIL had evinced interest in picking up majority stake in NINL.

Recently, NINL was among the 17 units to have got commitment on iron ore supplies from OMC for the January-March quarter of this fiscal.

BS