Date:02/01/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/01/02/stories/2009010259870600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Singareni Collieries to make Rs. 300-crore profit

HYDERABAD: The Singareni Collieries Company Limited, a leading public sector coal mining company, is all set to register profit close to Rs. 300 crore by the end of the current financial year.

The company, which made a turn around after reporting losses till few years ago, budgeted profits to the tune of Rs. 360 crore during the current year. But, the economic slowdown and decline in demand from ferro alloys, sponge iron, paper and other sectors are likely to have an adverse impact on the company’s profits. SCCL Chairman and Managing Director S.Narsing Rao told reporters here on Thursday that the e-auction of coal fetched the company Rs. 204 crore over and above the normal price while it was also earning revenues through consultancy and other services.

The company achieved record production of 32.65 million tonne (MT) upto the end of the third quarter against the targeted 30.36 million tonne with growth pegged at 8.5 per cent.

It achieved an all time record in dispatching 32.35 MT of which 73 per cent went to power sector, with coal supplies to power stations owned by National Thermal Power Corporation and AP Power Generation Corporation crossing the 100 per cent mark. The SCCL was likely to achieve production of 43.6 MT by the end of the current fiscal and was planning to set a target of 50.4 MT for the next financial year. The calendar year was a “near strike free year” for the company and the SCCL set a record of 20 strike free months from December 2006 to July 2008.

The SCCL’s proposal for setting up a 600 MW merchant power plant at Jaipur mandal of Adilabad district was pending approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs and the first phase of the Rs. 2,960 crore plant was likely to be operational in 36 months once the permission was accorded.

No privatisation

Replying to queries, he said there were no plans for privatisation of SCCL, but the company was outsourcing a part of works to other agencies. He lamented that the SCCL could not achieve the “best on safety front” with 12 accidents involving 13 fatalities during the year.