Techno-Economics of Steel Plants

This book is about steel industry, India is ranked as 10th largest steel producer of the world. Iron and steel making in India was considered to be profitable business a few years back. But today it is in very bad shape. Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL), a PSE, ranked as world’s 12th largest steel producing company, was considered to be most admired "blue chip" company with record of high profitability. It enjoys the status of being a Navaratna company. But it too had projected net loss of Rs. 1574 crore in 1998-99 and estimated loss of Rs. 1000 crore in 1999-2000. There has been decline in share value of all the steel majors which means decline in market capitalization. This has sent a wrong signal. Reforms have paved the way for restructuring but the industrial restructuring in India rarely bear any fruits. If market mechanism is to be believed then losses in steel sector are bound to rise. SAIL looks like a giant Titanic ship, which is on the verge of sinking. With it all those PSEs would also sink who are depending upon SAIL, like HSCL, FSNL, BRL, MECON, etc. To rescue such a huge company is doubtful unless some MNCs come forward. The Rastriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL), which could be considered as one of the most modern technological marvel in steel making, has never made net profit despite the fact that it enjoys all the technological advantages of shore based company. Removal of entry barrier had seen scheduling of new investment in green field plants for DRI making as well as steel making using either mini-blast furnances route or corex route, which led to surplus capacity. The cost and time over run in implementation of steel projects has resulted in rising non-performing assets of the financial institutions who had financed the new steel projects. Falling selling prices of steel in international market and recession in domestic economy has made worse the problems of steel sector. This book presents an overview of the iron and steel sector of Indian industry. Besides demand and supply of finished steel this book also presents the demand and supply for raw-material used in iron and steel making, crucial factors for competitiveness, etc. This book will be useful for all those who have interest in steel sector. Particularly, steel sector’s executives, students studying for MBA and other degrees at masters ‘level, policy-makers, etc.