Vizag Steel plant is now a 'net positive company'

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) has wiped out all its accumulated losses and has emerged as a 'net positive company'.

"In 2001-02, our total accumulated losses were Rs 4,600 crore. We achieved a debt-free company status in 2003-04, and have now wiped out all our accumulated losses," Y Siva Sagar Rao, chairman and managing director of VSP, told mediapersons on the occasion of the Republic Day celebrations at VSP.

VSP has been earning net profits for the last three years and has taken up a massive expansion project at an outlay of around Rs 8,700 crore.

"The steel plant has set up an ambitious target of completing the expansion programme in a span of 36 months," he added.

Rao said that the steel plant's efforts had resulted in the company securing the Mahal coking coal block in Dhanbad district of Jharkhand with estimated reserves of about 260 million tonnes. "This is a step towards self-efficiency," he said.

In spite of operating the plant at a rated capacity of 120 per cent, VSP registered a 2 per cent growth in saleable steel production and the sales had improved by 13 per cent, Rao said.