Interview With C S Verma ,Chairman - Steel Authority Of India

Maharatna company SAIL is working on a long-term strategic plan ‘Vision 2025’, which will steer the company towards a target capacity of 50 million tonnes per annum (mtpa). Vision 2025 will not only enhance SAIL’s contribution to nation building, but will also place the companies among the top steel companies globally. Currently, SAIL’s massive modernisation and expansion plan (MEP) at an expenditure of about `72000 crore, under the leadership of its Chairman C S Verma, is in an advanced stage of implementation. Post expansion, the company’s hot metal capacity will be enhanced to around 23.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) from 14.2 mtpa produced in 2012-13. A new 4060 m3 Blast Furnace at Rourkela Steel Plant, the largest in the country, has recently become operational, and a similar blast furnace is ready at IISCO Steel Plant (ISP) in Burnpur. A new 7 metre-tall Coke Oven Battery and a sinter plant in ISP has commenced operations. The rebuilt Coke Oven Battery 2 of Durgapur Steel Plant has also started production earlier this month. Wire rods from the new Wire Rod Mill at ISP are already in the market. Further, Plate Mill at RSP and other new finishing mills are also being completed at a fast pace.

Today, SAIL is the largest steel producer in India, with about one-fifth share of domestic finished steel production, a turnover of about `50000 crore and employing around 100000 people across India. Major plants owned and operated by SAIL are located at Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur, Rourkela, Burnpur, Bhadrawati and Salem, and are ISO certified. SAIL’s steel finds wide range of applications across different important segments owing to its quality, strength, variety, value and performance. SAIL branded products, viz. SAIL TMT rebars and SAIL JYOTI (galvanised sheets), are widely used by the common man throughout the country. It is also a matter of great pride that the country has launched the first indigenously made Aircraft Carrier ‘INS Vikrant’, which is made entirely of SAIL steel.

The Central Marketing Organisation (CMO) of SAIL, with its headquarters in Kolkata, is India’s largest steel marketing set-up, with a pan-India distribution network of 131 sales offices/warehouses and a wide network of over 2800 dealers across the country.

With the underlying philosophy and a credo to ‘make a meaningful difference in people’s lives’, SAIL has been structuring and implementing CSR initiatives right from its inception. The company is aware of the need for bringing about holistic development in rural areas and recognises the pivotal role of education, health, income generation, women’s empowerment, etc. The tagline of the company, ‘There’s a little bit of SAIL in everybody’s life’, symbolises the fact that in the last five decades it has grown from strength to strength and that the SAIL brand is well entrenched in people’s minds.