NEW DELHI, Mar 24: Monnet Ispat and Energy is looking to commission its first steel plant of 1.5 million tonnes (MT) capacity in Chhattisgarh’s Raigarh by June this year, a top official of the company said.
The company, which has invested about Rs 5,000 crore on developing the capacity, has already operationalised its bar mill and is in the process of stabilising it, Monnet’s Deputy Managing Director C P Baid told.
“Our bar mill is ready, it is under stabilisation. You will see the products in the market in couple of months. Commissioning of the plate mill will follow. We are in the process to start our sinter plant, blast furnace and steel making. Post this, our capacity will be 1.5 MT,” he said.
Noting that there is a slump in steel demand, he said that “the capacity will be created but the output (from it) will depend on market situations and will take time. Stabilisation takes time. So, by March (2014), we should have stabilised everything and start producing at 80 per cent capacity.”
The new capacity is equally divided between both types of steel, long (bar mill) and flat (plate mill), he added.
The company, whose business portfolio encompasses manufacturing and marketing of sponge iron, steel and ferro alloys, is also setting up a 2.2 million tonnes iron ore pellet plant in Raigarh itself to meet its requirements.
When asked about company’s future expansion plans, Baid said that Monnet will look to increase the Raigarh steel plant capacity to 2 MT by optimum utilisation of resources. He, however, declined to comment on expansion at other locations.
Besides the steel mill, Monnet Ispat is also expanding its footprints in coal and iron ore mining and power generation — both, for captive needs and as an independent power producer.
The company, which had reported a net profit of Rs 197.28 crore in the first nine months of the fiscal, has plans to commission first unit, having 525 MW capacity, of its power plant in Odisha by September this year.
It also has coal blocks like Gare Palma IV/5, Utkal B2, Urtan North, Raigmar dipside block and Mandakini and a coal mine in Indonesia. (PTI)
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