SAIL to focus on value-added steel, global M&As

NEW DELHI: Steel Authority of India ( SAIL) will enhance its production capacity of value-added steel required by the power sector and expand its global presence through mergers and acquisitions, company’s new chairman CS Verma said.

“I feel inorganic growth is important for a company like SAIL. This strategy would be pursued in days ahead,” said Mr Verma. In a globalised world SAIL will not confine itself as a domestic player but will spread its wings outside, especially towards building input security by acquiring overseas assets, he added.

SAIL will gear up to meet power sector requirement as 7% of its sales come from BHEL. “My first priority is to increase the 37% share of value-added products in SAIL by focusing on production of steel required for power projects,” Mr Verma told reporters after taking charge of company’s new chairman. Before joining SAIL, he was director (finance) at BHEL.

Mr Verma said the company’s ambitious Rs 60,000-crore expansion programme will be completed on time without any further time and cost overrun. The company plans to expand its capacity from 15 million tonne per annum to over 23 million tonne by December 2012.

SAIL will soon come out with a detailed strategy on pursuing its new growth programme, he said. Mr Verma expressed concerns over rising input costs. “The way input prices are going up, it will definitely have impact on the profitability of steel companies,” he said.

Spanning 29 years, Mr Verma’s career profile also covers stints as director (finance) of ITI, as group general manager of Indian Railway Finance Corporation, and as general manager of Delhi Stock Exchange, besides experience of working in a financial institution for nine years.