NEW DELHI, MARCH 3: Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) on Friday indicatedthat it would increase prices of steel products in April to achieve thetargeted Rs 18,000 crore turnover during the fiscal 2000-01. "We have set atarget of Rs 18,000 crore turnover during next the financial year and we areplanning to achieve it through a mix of price-rise and improving ourproduct-mix as per the market requirement," said SAIL chairman and managingdirector Arvind Pande."We have orders for all our plants for the whole of Marchand the prices arealso looking up," he said, adding that the corporations would break-even intwo years on the strength of financial and business restructuring. SAIL,which has been given a financial package of over Rs 8,000 crore bythe Government last month, was likely to attain a turnover of Rs 16,000crore in 1999-2000.
SAIL, which suffered Rs 2000 crore losses in April-December 1999, haschalked out a detailed plan to overcome the setbacks it faced during thelast couple of years to ensure the long-term competitiveness of the company,Pande said.
SAIL would sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Union steelministry in a few days outlining goals with a time frame for restructuringto turn the corner.
Brushing aside criticism about success of SAIL package, Pande said, "Wewill not go to Government for further support. We are conscious ofchallenges before us and we are confident of coming out of the red withintwo years." Steel industry was showing signs of revival since the last yearand market was demanding more than producers could supply, Pande said,adding that the steel authority's mills were fully booked for the nextcouple of months.
This year, SAIL was likely to reduce the inventories by over 7 lakh tonnesdue to increase in demand. The Union budget for 2000-01 was just anotherstep to boost the steel industry, he added.
Another area of concern was rationalisation of manpower of over 1.6 lakh inSAIL. The company is planning to achieve the target of downsizing themanpower by 60,000 over a period of three to four years through a mix ofvoluntary retirements (VRs) and natural retirement. SAIL is also likely toraise Rs 1,500 crore for implementing the VR scheme more effectively, forwhich the Government has already given guarantee, Pande said, adding thatit was expected to cost around Rs 5 lakh per employee opting for thevoluntary retirement scheme.
Asked whether SAIL was considering lowering the retirement age from 60 yearsto 58 years, the chairman said there was neither a proposal nor it wasdesired.
Copyright © 2000 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.