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SAIL prunes losses

Ambarish Mukherjee

NEW DELHI, May 27

THE board of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) will meet on Monday to finalise the annual financial results which show losses pegged at Rs 728 crore for the 2000-2001 fiscal. At this level, it works out to a reduction of Rs 992 crore compared to the Rs 1,720-crore loss incurred in 1999-2000.

The Union Minister of Steel, Mr B.K. Tripathy, speaking to Business Line, said that ``SAIL has been able to meet the target set for the year. This year, its losses will be around Rs 727-728 crore.''

More importantly, SAIL will not be referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR), a view which had been making the rounds for the past few months. Nor will it be considered for disinvestment. ``There is no proposal for disinves tment of SAIL and the company will retain its `navaratna' status despite losses,'' he said.

Meanwhile, salary negotiations for employees of the country's largest steel producer is at the final stage. Salary revisions were due for the past three years. ``Salaries for executives have already been finalised in accordance with the recommendations o f the Rakesh Mohan Committee set up for PSU employees. For the non-executive cadre, it is almost at the final stage,'' he said.

Cost reduction and better market realisation are the two main factors that have helped the public sector giant meet the targeted loss reduction during the year. The company has saved more than Rs 525 crore through a rigorous cost-control exercise during the year. Simultaneously, it has achieved a six per cent rise in price realisation.

Sale of its power plants, which generated Rs 391 crore during the year is another major contributor in bringing down the loss figure.

The SAIL stock had been quoted below par for almost a year with a 52-week high and low of Rs 10 and Rs 5, respectively. On Friday, the scrip closed at Rs 5.90.