mahikarnam

State-run Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) has embarked on a Rs 5,000-crore modernisation plan, which will be carried out over three years to add value to its product portfolio.

"We would be investing Rs 5,000 crore over three years span to modernise our steel plant and make it more efficient in various aspects," RINL Chairman and Managing Director P K Bishnoi said on the sidelines of the recent Steel Summit.

Among others, RINL plans to revamp the converter and blast furnace of its Visakhapatnam steel plant and add cold dust injection system and magnetic slab to it. The company would meet expenses on modernisation from its internal resources.

For uninterrupted supply of iron ore from NMDC, RINL plans in the long-run to construct a pipeline from Bailadila mine region in Dantewada district of Chhattisgarh to Visakhapatnam.

The company's annual iron ore requirement is pegged at about 7 million tonnes. RINL has also applied for iron ore mines in Chhattisgarh, Orissa and Jharkhand.

Bishnoi said tenders have been floated for procuring some of the equipment for the plant's modernisation, while planning and other related works for rest of the project is on.

Joining the league of companies vying for the coveted Navratna status, RINL has also applied for the same.

"We have just applied for the Navratna status, which would be considered by the inter-ministerial group," Bishnoi said.

Asked whether RINL has given any formal proposal to Steel Ministry for merger with NMDC, Bishnoi said it was a matter "within the family" for which proposals are not required.

RINL, which manufactures an array of steel products, intends to pump in about Rs 13,000 crore to scale up its steel production to 6.3 million tonne by 2010 from three million tonne approved capacity at present.