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Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), witnessed a 3.68 per cent increase in its net profit to Rs 366 crore for the financial year 2013-14, as against Rs 353 crore in the previous year.
“The lower revenue operations of Rs 13,431 crore was due to sluggish market conditions, increase in input costs, especially basic raw material, and depreciation in the rupee against the dollar, all of which have had an adverse impact compared to last year,” P Madhusudan, chairman and managing director of RINL, said at the Mini Ratna company’s 32nd annual general meeting held here on Wednesday.
RINL declared a total dividend of Rs 92.65 crore consisting of 10 per cent of the net profit for the year 2013-14 to its equity shareholders (amounting to Rs 36.65 crore) and coupon rate of seven per cent on the preference share capital to preference shareholders as on September 29, 2014 (amounting to Rs 56 crore).
This also includes the interim dividend declared earlier during the year of Rs 58 crore already paid to both equity shareholders (Rs 3 crore) and preference shareholders (Rs 55 crore). The total dividend cash outflow, including the dividend tax for the year 2013-14, amounts to Rs 108.40 crore.
Presiding over the AGM, Madhusudan said that the much-awaited expansion of VSP was nearing completion and was likely to yield results by the end of this fiscal. “The company is likely to move ahead in achieving the capacity of 7.3 million tonne liquid steel,” he said.
Initiatives like signing of an MoU with NMDC for laying of slurry pipeline from Nagarnar to Vizag, setting up of a pellet plant at Vizag, an MoU with MECON for developing and manufacturing silicon steel, and an MoU with the Indian Railways for setting up of a forged wheel plant at Rai Bareli in Uttar Pradesh were taken, he said.
