Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy Instructs Visakhapatnam Steel Plant To Boost Production Capacity

Union Steel Minister H D Kumaraswamy directed the officials of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam RNIL) to enhance production capacity, promising financial assistance to rejuvenate the financially struggling company.

In a high-level meeting with top officials on Wednesday, the Minister emphasised the necessity of increasing steel production to make the plant profitable. He reviewed detailed reports on the company's activities, financial status, production levels, and new initiatives.

"The state-run company's focus must be on increasing production and capacity. Plans will be made to provide financial support to the company," stated the Minister's office.

Minister Kumaraswamy reiterated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's target of producing 300 million tonnes of steel annually, emphasising the importance of ramping up the production capacity at the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant to meet this goal. He highlighted the competitive challenge posed by China in the steel sector and underscored the need to strengthen the domestic industry by focusing on specialty steel and green steel production.

The Minister called for enhancing the plant's technical and financial capabilities to tackle these challenges and requested a comprehensive proposal for the plant's revival.

The meeting saw the participation of Bhupatiraju Srinivas Verma, Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Steel; Nagendra Nath Sinha, Secretary of the Steel Ministry; Sukriti Likhi, Additional Secretary; Amrendra Prakash, Chairman of the Indian Steel Authority; Atul Bhatt, Chairman and Managing Director of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, along with other senior officials.

Earlier this week, a delegation led by Andhra Pradesh BJP state president and MP, D Purandeswari, met the Union Minister and submitted a memorandum seeking the revival of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.