SAIL Chairperson says company ready to move to next realm of expansion

Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) held its 49th Annual General Meeting today through the virtual platform. Attending the meeting from the Company’s headquarters situated at Lodi Road, New Delhi, Mrs Soma Mondal, Chairman, SAIL addressed the shareholders on this occasion. The Chairman underlined some of the important events / highlights of SAIL for the Company’s shareholders. Describing FY’21 as the year of ‘Growth and Scaling newer heights’ for SAIL, she said SAIL posted its highest ever EBITDA of Rs 13740 Crore which was higher by 23% over CPLY. The factors which helped improve profitability included higher sales of secondary products, sale of iron ore fines, lower usage of other raw materials, improvement in techno-economic parameters, benefit in stores and spares expenses, decreased purchased power rates, reduction in interest charges, higher dividend income and forex exchange gain among others. The Profit Before Tax (PBT) of the company stood highest in the last ten years. The company’s borrowings came down to Rs 35350 with a reduction of more than Rs 16000 Crore consequently improving the debt-equity ratio to 0.87 on 31.03.2021 vis-à-vis 1.36 as on 31.03.2020. Citing the various challenges faced by the Company due to the ongoing COVID19 Pandemic, the shareholders were informed about the measures taken by the Company to counter the impact of this pandemic. Taking pro-active actions, the Company reworked its plans and strategies to sustain all round activities. Outlining some of those, she said, SAIL made optimal utilization of the operational facilities instead of operating greater number of facilities at sub-optimal level. Along with reduction in cost by reducing consumption level for various inputs, the capital repairs were also pre-poned wherever feasible. In these trying times, the company maximized sales volumes through potential channels like exports, dispatch to Railways while it reduced cash outflows by reviewing commitments and renegotiating contracts among others. She added that not only did the Company focussed on continuing its operations with minimum disruptions, but also ensured this was achieved without compromising the safety of employees and population in the nearby areas. In fact, the Company was a front-runner in partnering the Nation in its fight against Covid-19 Pandemic. She informed the shareholders about the scaled response activated by SAIL for management of Covid-19 outbreak across all locations of its presence.