SAIL buys Bharat Refractories

NEW DELHI: Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has taken over state-owned Bharat Refractories (BRL) and merged it with itself. The merger, effective April 1, 2007, has also got approval corporate affairs ministry, a SAIL official said.

BRL makes high temperature-bearing refractory materials used in the inner linings of blast furnaces. ���The captive in-house refractory-making capability (through the merger of BRL) would provide strategic advantage to SAIL at a time when the company is expanding its production capacity,��� SAIL chairman SK Roongta said.

The merger will help the country���s largest steel producer utilise BRL���s excess capacity for its present and future refractory needs. Already, the steelmaker consumes about 85-90% of BRL���s output. For BRL, the merger will provide an opportunity to upgrade its technology and resource management, he said.

BRL, which produces an assorted variety of refractories used primarily in iron & steel making, has been reeling under losses for many years due to technological obsolescence, ageing plants and equipment and low capacity utilisation.