RINL-Visakhapatnam Steel will not be privatised, says Steel Minister Kumaraswamy in Vizag

RINL-VSP will not be privatised, with the Centre aiming to make it the top steel plant in India, says H.D. Kumaraswamy.

The Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited-Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) will not be privatised, and, moreover, the Centre will take the responsibility of making the plant number one in the country, Union Minister for Steel and Heavy Industries H.D. Kumaraswamy said on Thursday.

He was confident that they would achieve this as the plant was able to register a production of 14,000 metric tonnes in December 2024 with operation of two of three blast furnaces. He added that the third blast furnace would also be restarted in June or July 2025 to achieve a production of 21,000 metric tonnes with a full capacity of 7.3 million metric tonnes per day.

Mr. Kumaraswamy, who was in the city on Thursday, interacted with mediapersons at the Steel Plant’s Hill View Guest House on the plant premises at the end of his day-long visit to the plant. Earlier, he held a series of meetings with the plant executive cadre, union leaders and also whirlwind tour of the operational units.

In the brief interaction, Mr. Kumaraswamy said that RINL-VSP was doing well till the financial year 2013-14. The problem started when the plant went from three million metric tonnes to 7.3 million metric tonnes in expansion mode. After that, the Union government announced the disinvestment of the plant in January 2021. At that time, the plant’s liabilities were ₹18,000 crore, but now they increased to ₹35,000 crore.

After the NDA government came to power in 2024, he himself visited the plant in July 2024 with a view to protecting the plant from the financial crisis, Mr,. Kumaraswamy said. Chief Minister Nara Chandrababu Naidu, Mr. Nara Lokesh, Visakhapatnam Member of Parliament M. Sribharat and his Cabinet colleague Bhupathiraju Srinivasa Varma and others had also repeatedly urged the steel ministry and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take some steps to save the plant whenever possible because this was the political commitment of the NDA.

Taking all factors into account, after observing that the plant’s production in December 2024 was 14,000 MT, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also gave them a positive signal to take steps to save the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant. Accordingly, the Centre announced a revival package of ₹11,440 crore in January 2025.

“On Thursday, I visited the steel plant to see how this revival package is being utilised and what best steps can be taken to make this plant number one in the country as Visakhapatnam Steel is the second best steel PSU after Steel Authority of India Limited once,” Mr. Kumaraswamy said.