SAIL to appoint more than 1,000 dealers in current fiscal

NEW DELHI: State-run SAIL on Wednesday said it will appoint more than 1,000 dealers in rural India by March, 2012, under its new rural dealership scheme, which is aimed at increasing the penetration of the company's branded products in the country's hinterland.

"The scheme envisages appointment of more than 1,000 rural dealers in all states of the country during the current financial year," the Maharatna firm said in a statement.

It added that the new dealership scheme will enable SAIL to reach its branded products like SAIL-TMT rebars and SAIL-JYOTI (galvanised plain and corrugated sheets) to grassroots-level rural consumers across the country.

Moreover, to keep products available at affordable prices under the new scheme, SAIL would arrange transportation of the products from its nearest warehouses to the dealers' outlets and bear the transportation costs, the statement further said.

"The rural market in India is undergoing rapid transformation with its new-found purchasing power. This potential could help us in raising per capita steel consumption in the country provided we understand their requirement better and produce suitable products," SAIL Chairman C S Verma was quoted as saying in the statement.

According to the steel industry data, per capita steel consumption in rural India is estimated to be only 9.78 kgs as compared to around 140 kgs in urban areas of the country.

The statement said the new scheme is in addition to SAIL's existing 5-year-old dealership Scheme under which nearly 2,700 dealers operate in 630 districts in the country.

It added that the SAIL achieved 21 per cent growth in sales through its existing dealer network in the April-June quarter, while the sales of branded products SAIL-JYOTI and SAIL-TMT witnessed growth of 57 per cent and 9.5 per cent respectively, through this distribution channel.