Big win for CM KCR: VSP disinvestment plan put on hold, says Union Minister

Union Minister of State for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste said the Centre’s disinvestment plan has been put on hold, in what could be said to be a major victory for CM KCR.

Visakhapatnam: In what could be said to be a major victory for Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao and the BRS in their campaign against privatisation of the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Union Minister of State for Steel Faggan Singh Kulaste said the Centre’s disinvestment plan has been put on hold.

“We are not going ahead, as of now, towards strategic disinvestment of RINL Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. We want to strengthen RINL,” the minister, who is scheduled to meet the Steel Plant workers in the evening, said.

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RINL had recently invited Expressions of Interest from private companies and steel manufacturers to provide working capital and raw material and to purchase its products.

The Telangana government-controlled Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) has been looking at the feasibility of participating in the EoI.

RINL has been facing a shortage of working capital to keep the plant functioning and issued an EoI.

Out of the three blast furnaces at Vizag Steel Plant, only two furnaces are in operation as the third one was closed in January 2022 due to lack of working capital.

The Vizag Steel Plant is the only shore-based integrated steel plant in the country with two major ports in a vicinity of 25 km. The plant expanded its capacity from 3 million tonnes to 7.3 million tonnes as per the National Steel Policy.

Also, it is the largest single public sector unit in the steel sector. However, RINL could not achieve its stated capacity due to the financial crisis.