Rashtriya Ispat Nigam

Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, (abbreviated as RINL), also known as "Vizag Steel", is a government owned steel producer based in Visakhapatnam, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel , Government of India . RINL is the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), India's first shore-based integrated steel plant built with state-of-the-art technology. VSP is a 7.3 MTPA plant. It was commissioned in 1992 with a capacity of 3.0 MTPA of liquid steel. The company subsequently completed its capacity expansion to 6.3 MTPA in April 2015 and to 7.3 MTPA in December 2017. The company has one subsidiary, viz. Eastern Investment Limited (EIL) with 51% shareholding, which in turn is having two subsidiaries, viz. M/s Orissa Mineral Development Company Ltd (OMDC) and M/s Bisra Stone Lime Company Ltd (BSLC). The company has a partnership in RINMOIL Ferro Alloys Private Limited and International Coal Ventures Limited in the form of joint ventures with 50% and 26.49% shareholding respectively.
Location.
The steel plant is in the southern part of Visakhapatnam city, Andhra Pradesh state of India. The company has blast furnace grade limestone captive mine at Jaggayyapeta (Krishna District), a captive mine for dolomite at Madharam (Khammam), a manganese ore captive mine at Cheepurupalli (Vizianagaram). It also has a mining lease for river sand on the river Champavathi.
History.
When founded in 1982, RINL was wholly owned by the Government of India. In November 2010, the company was granted the "Navratna" status by the government.
In September 2011, the government announced plans to divest 10% of its stake in RINL via an initial public offering. In February 2021, the Cabinet approved the privatisation of RINL. This decision caused massive protests in Vizag City. The state has no equity share in the plant and the centre is withdrawing 100% of the investment, according to a statement by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in March 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Oxygen Express train with 100 tonnes medical oxygen has left for Maharashtra from RINL on 22 April 2021.
Operations.
RINL operates a 7.3 million tonne per annum capacity steel plant in Visakhapatnam. During the initial periods, the company suffered huge losses. Later the profits have gone up by 200% making it the only steel industry to achieve such a target. Its annual capacity is expected to reach almost 7.5 million tonnes by 2020.
RINL plans to invest to increase the capacity to 20 million tonnes by 2027.
RINL has successfully commissioned its next phase despite some major setbacks with blasts in its new blast furnace. Another unit of RINL is coming in Uttar Pradesh. With an investment of 1688 Crores, RINL is establishing a plant in Modern Coach Factory, Raebareli for Rail wheels under make in India initiative. This plant will be equipped with ultra-modern technology. It will produce 1 lakh wheels per year.