The Indian state-owned steel mill Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) must achieve and continuously maintain capacity utilization at at least 92.5 percent to ensure its long-term financial health, senior officials of the Indian Ministry of Steel said on Wednesday, December 3. The comments followed an operational review conducted by the group of Joint Secretaries and the senior management of RINL.
Ministry representatives stressed that until September 2025, RINL operated only one of the three blast furnaces at the Visakhapatnam steel mill, which has a total capacity of 7.3 million tons of crude steel per year.The other two furnaces were restarted only after the company received a government-approved financial assistance package.
Despite the restart, the ministry noted that operational performance had not improved as expected, raising concerns about the plant's ability to achieve sustainable production.
Minimum of 19,000 tons of daily production required for viability
The ministry stressed that RINL must produce at least 19,000 tons of crude steel per day, equivalent to 92.5 percent capacity utilization, in order to achieve long-term viability.Without achieving these levels of productivity, officials warned, the steel mill cannot count on further financial assistance from the central government. government.
"Improving internal productivity and achieving production goals is essential for RINL's survival," the officials reiterated.
Frequent conveyor belt failures affecting stability
The review team expressed serious concern about recent production failures. It is reported that production has decreased this month, even after the restoration of the third blast furnace.Numerous conveyor belt failures over the past 10 days have disrupted stability.
Interestingly, officials noted that the nature of the failures indicates that they may be caused not only by poor maintenance or workmanship, which raises questions about deeper systemic problems.
Given the company's ongoing performance issues, officials have confirmed that additional government financial support may not be feasible. Therefore, ensuring consistent production and operational discipline will have
