Speed Post News Network
New Delhi : Chairman and Managing Director, SAIL, Saraswati Prasad on September 20, 2018, said the persistent strategic approach to improve operational profitability assisted SAIL improve the Earning before interests, taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBIDTA) in FY’18 to Rs 5,184 Crore, a substantial increase over FY’17.
Prasad was addressing the shareholders of Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) at Company’s 46th Annual General Meeting held here on September 20. He added that the improved operational performance is backed by increase in Saleable Steel production, higher share of Concast production, improved product mix, improvement in BF Productivity, reduction in Coke Rate & Specific Energy consumption, reduction in specific wage bill etc.
In FY’18, after slimming losses by around 83%, Company’s Profit After Tax (PAT) on standalone basis improved to Rs (-) 482 Crore from Rs (-) 2,833 Crore in FY’17. The consolidated profit after tax of the Company stood at Rs (-) 281 Crore for FY’18 as against Rs (-) 2,756 Crore in FY’17, according to a PIB release.
The Managing Director said that SAIL has almost finished its balance Modernization & Expansion Programme. He reiterated that FY’18 witnessed several landmark achievements through ramping up of new facilities and surpassing previous records in physical performance. SAIL achieved its highest ever production of Hot Metal of 15.983 MT, Crude Steel of 15.021 MT and Saleable Steel of 14.071 MT. It also clocked an all-time best performance of Continuous-Cast (CC) Steel production of 12.80 MT with a growth of 9% over previous best of 11.77 MT achieved in FY’17. He added that on the back of various new initiatives to improve productivity and efficiency across all plants, every unit has registered improvement.
Sighting positive outlook for global and domestic steel industry, Prasad further said that growth in domestic steel consumption is strongly backed by robust development of India’s infrastructure sector. It is further supported by 7.8% growth in domestic finished steel consumption during the FY’18 as a result of growing activities of steel intensive sectors.