New Delhi: Country's largest steel player Steel Authority of India (SAIL), which has a debt of nearly Rs 27,000 crore, has managed to bring down its debt by around Rs 750 crore last year and is planning to reduce it further, a senior company official said.
"Today, the debt is around Rs 26,800 crore... and we're planning to reduce it further in this financial year. Last year also we reduced by around Rs 750 crores.
"And now we are planning to reduce month-on-month," SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd) Director Finance Ashok Kumar Panda said during Q4 & FY '25 Conference Call.
And going forward, when the capex will increase, the company will have two-pronged approach, he said.
"Number one, we'll try to increase our profitability. So from internal accruals, we'll be able to compensate a part of the requirement.
"And the rest part we will line up other instruments available for getting the fund... Our debt-to-equity ratio is good enough to take care of these two aspects going forward," he explained.
SAIL has a capex outlay of Rs 7,500 crore for 2025-26.
The PSU is aiming to scale up its overall installed capacity to 35 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) by 2030, from the current around 20 MTPA.
"We have got an expansion plan. Right now, we are at around 20 million tonnes of capacity, and we want to go towards 35 million tonnes of capacity by 2030. So these are focused on various units to start with.
"We started doing the tendering activities in ISP, IISCO Steel Plant, followed by other plants. Other plants -- it will follow in other plants as well.
So that is the kind of plan we have. And for that, we are lining up our investments... for that as well. And the capex, we are going to increase the capex. And in stages, we'll be taking approvals. Approvals are coming from SAIL board...," Panda explained.
SAIL had reported over 11 percent growth in consolidated net profit to Rs 1,250.98 crore in March quarter, driven by revenues. It had posted a net profit of Rs 1,125.68 crore in the January-March period of the preceding 2023-24 financial year.
SAIL increased its revenue from operations to Rs 29,316.14 crore in the fourth quarter of FY25, from Rs 27,958.52 crore in the same period a year ago.
(PSU Watch– India's Business News centre that places the spotlight on PSUs, Bureaucracy, Defence and Public Policy is now on Google News. Click here to follow. Also, join PSU Watch Channel in your Telegram. You may also follow us on Twitter here and stay updated.)