VSP sales touch Rs 4,777 crore in Jan

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) registered a 24 per cent growth in turnover for the 10 months ended January 31, as compared to the corresponding period last fiscal.

The company's sales turnover during April 2003 to January 2004 touched Rs 4,777 crore, recording a growth of 24 per cent over the sales of Rs 3,850 crore achieved during the corresponding period last fiscal.

The domestic sales of Rs 4,181 crore and Rs 596 crore on the export front in the first ten months of the current fiscal were 25 per cent and 20 per cent higher respectively over the corresponding period last fiscal, according to a VSP press release.

During this period VSP produced 3.4 million tonnes of hot metal, 2.91 million tonnes of liquid steel and 2.62 million tonnes of saleable steel, thereby attaining a capacity utilisation of 120 per cent, 116 per cent and 118 per cent respectively.

The steel plant's cumulative labour productivity has gone upto 260 tonne/man year during this period.

The company has fully repaid the term loans and bonds of Rs 773 crore outstanding as at Apri 1, 2003 and has become a zero-debt company by October 2003.

"The interest expenditure of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant during April 2003 to January 2004 is around Rs 50 crore against Rs 175 crore in the corresponding period of previous financial year, resulting in a saving of Rs 125 crore," the release added.