Cabinet approves Rs 11,440 crore revival package for RINL

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, has approved an Rs 11,440 crore revival package for Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL). Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told the media in New Delhi on Friday that the revival package was cleared in Thursday’s cabinet meeting. He said RINL is an important company in the country’s steel sector, located in Andhra Pradesh. Vaishnaw said that with the help of this package, all the employees of RINL, as well as all the people connected with the economic activities of RINL, will be immensely benefitted.
Union Steel Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that the privatisation issue of the steel-making entity does not arise.
In a media briefing in the national capital, Kumaraswamy said.Kumaraswamy also said his ministry is also working to get some iron ore mines for RINL for captive usage in Odisha.On the reasons behind RINL's situation, Kumaraswamy the company was running smoothly till it had a capacity of 3 MTPA. "It (issue) started when they (RINL management) decided to expand from 3 million tonnes to 6.3 million ton in 2014-15, they have raised their loan of Rs 11,000 crores from different banks with the interest of 13 per cent. "They had no captive mining to run the plant. They have to purchase the raw material (8:36) from the open market. Then again in 2016-17, they raised the plan to expand to 7.3 MT...Now, actually, the downfall of RINL started after going for this expansion," he said.
RINL's 7.5 million tonne steel plant at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh has been facing severe financial and operational issues for the past few years. Two of the three blast furnaces (BF) were closed till October 2024, when the second BF was made operationalised after nearly 4-6 months. The overall dues of RINL have gone above Rs 35,000 crore.As per the minister, in July-August this year, all three furnaces be operational with over 92 per cent production.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Friday said that the issue of privatising the Vizag Steel Plant will no longer arise as the Centre has approved financial support of Rs 11,440 crore. Addressing a press conference in Undavalli, Naidu stated that everyone must work hard and utilise taxpayers’ funds efficiently to revive the steel plant. "With the revival package in place, the problem of steel plant privatisation will no longer exist. This is taxpayers’ money, and we need to use it responsibly," he said. The Modi-led NDA Government at the Centre gave it a fresh leash of life, and by doing so, respected what was the sentiment of people of Andhra Pradesh, he said.