SAIL Chairman highlights scaled respnse to COVID

Anil Kumar Chaudhary, Chairman of the Steel Authority of India Ltd, on October 22 highlighted how SAIL has activated a scaled response for management of COVID-19 at its plants/units and townships.

Addressing shareholders at the 48th Annual General Meeting of the company, he said the pandemic has impacted SAIL just as it has impacted every corporate across the country.

He said while fighting with the COVID-19 pandemic on one hand, the company ensured that the production continued in line with the market demand while making use of the time available to carry out planned repairs by preponing them from the original schedule.

He said that the financial year 2019-20 has been the year of sustaining profitability. Despite challenging market conditions which saw the average Net Sales Realisation decline by 12 per cent over the previous year, the determined efforts and strategic initiatives taken by SAIL saw the EBITDA in FY’20 rise by 9 pc to Rs. 11,199 crore, as against Rs. 10,283 crore in FY’19.

However, due to higher depreciation and finance cost, the Profit after Tax (PAT) on standalone basis came down to Rs. 2,022 crore in FY’20 as against Rs. 2178 crore in the previous year. On consolidated basis, the Profit after Tax stood at Rs. 2,121 crore for FY’20 as against Rs. 2348 crore in FY’19.

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Chaudhary further added that during FY19, SAIL produced new grades of steel like superior performance rails namely R-260 grade and wheels for high-speed LHB coaches for Indian Railways; special quality steel complying to the requirement of country’s defence forces for use in armour plates, gun carriage, ammunition testing and bullet-proof applications; API X-70 steel grade for pipe in oil and gas sector; and high tensile, fire-resistant, weather-resistant structural steel and seismic grade TMT Bars for construction and infrastructure sector.