The Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) wants to increase capacity to approximately 35 million tonnes (mt) per year, which will need an investment of over 1,000 crore over a ten-year period.
In addition to investing in new product lines, capex plans include building up capacities, ramping up current operations, de-bottlenecking, maintenance, and replacing coke oven batteries.
The CPSE now has an installed capacity of 20 mtpa, making it one of the biggest steel producers in the nation. Last fiscal year, 18.3 mt of crude steel was produced.
According to Anil Tulsiani, Director (Finance), SAIL, most of the capex plans are already in a drawing board stage; an “in-principle approval from the board has been received”. Over the next six months — “towards August or September” — these plans should be ready and the tendering process should be over in “another four to five months” (by FY24 end), he added.
