Higher infra spending led to a 7.8% rise in steel demand in FY18: SAIL

Kolkata: Boost in infrastructure spending led to a 7.8 per cent rise in domestic steel consumption in FY18, with the trend likely to continue due to a step up in activity in steel intensive sectors, a top official of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has said.

Addressing the shareholders during the company’s 46th Annual General Meeting held on Wednesday, Chairman SAIL, Saraswati Prasad said a persistent strategic approach assisted SAIL to improve EBIDTA in FY18 to Rs 5,184 crore, a substantial increase over FY17.

He added that the improved operational performance was backed by increase in saleable steel production, higher share of concast production, improved product mix, improvement in blast furnace (BF)productivity, reduction in coke rate & specific energy consumption and a reduction in specific wage bill etc.

In FY18, after trimming losses by around 83 per cent, SAIL's net loss on standalone basis was at Rs 482 crore from Rs 2,833 crore in FY17. The consolidated net loss stood at Rs 281 crore for FY18 as against Rs 2,756 crore in FY17.

Prasad added that SAIL has almost finished its balance modernisation and expansion programme.