SAIL moves goals and time frame to 2025

SAIL has rescheduled its 2020 long term strategic plan to 2025 with a 5-million-tonne addition to its hot metal output target. Company sources told Business Line the change of plan would mean qualitative and quantitative changes in tune with the global and local demand-and-supply scene for steel.

According to Mr CS Verma chairman and MD of SAIL, ‘Vision 2025’ will steer the company towards a target of 50 million tonnes of hot metal output. A senior SAIL official said the earlier plan, approved by the SAIL Board in February 2012, aimed at 45 million tonnes by 2020.

The new plan, now in the works, will have to get the Board’s nod, too. Sources said that during the last few months, SAIL’s top officials and the Steel Ministry had reconsidered the time frame and revised the targets.

The new plan would meet the “the strategic objectives of achieving leadership in the Indian steel sector and a position amongst the top steel companies globally,” Verma added in a statement to shareholders. He said that SAIL already has the land and the other necessary infrastructure to expand its capacity to this level.

The ongoing SAIL modernisation and expansion plan targets raising hot metal output to 23.5 million tonnes from 14.3 million tonnes in 2012-13. In August, SAIL was able to add 2.5 million tonnes hot metal capacity. The balance would be achieved; Mr Verma said that “in a phased manner” but did not mention a definite time frame.