Separate setups to market SAIL's long, flat products

By Our Staff Reporter

CALCUTTA, JUNE 2. The Steel Authority of India (SAIL) restructured its marketing set up in all the regions in accordance with its plan to bifurcate the organisation under two broad product categories of flat and long. Under the new arrangement, the regional headquarters at the four metros will be headed by two different regional managers looking after flat and long products separately.

According to official sources, the marketing headquarters in Calcutta had already been restructured with two different groups focussing on the said product categories.

Two more groups - one dealing with specialised products such as pipes, tin plates and electrical sheets and the other for value added mild steels, rural marketing and distribution channels - are also being created.

Since SAIL markets a large range of steel items ranging from semi-finished to the most sophisticated categories, the move will ensure a higher degree of specialisation and familiarity with the products at the regional level.

Meanwhile, in tune with the international and national trends of customised sales and services, SAIL has appointed two private service agents in Mumbai and Pune. The third one will be appointed in Calcutta soon. However, according sources, unlike its biggest competitor, Tata Steel, the company is yet to attach any significance to the service centre concept.

On the other hand, in a complete shift from the concept of stockyard sales, the company is fast shifting to direct sales. The latter had shot up from 2.2 million tonnes in 1994-95 to 4.18 million tonnes in 1999-2000. Production came down but later increased marginally from 7.14 million tonnes to 7.38 million tonnes during the same period.

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Section  : Business
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