The Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) held its 49th Annual General Meeting. Soma Mondal, Chairman, SAIL while addressing the shareholders described FY '21 as the year of ‘Growth and Scaling new​er​ heights’ for SAIL. SAIL posted its highest ever EBITDA of Rs 13740 Crore which was higher by ~23% over CPLY. The factors which helped improve profitability included higher sales of secondary products, sale of iron ore fines, lower usage of other raw materials, improvement in techno-economic parameters, benefit in stores and spares expenses, decreased purchased power rates, reduction in interest charges, higher dividend income and forex exchange gain among others. The Profit Before Tax (PBT) of the company stood highest in the last ten years.

Taking proactive actions, SAIL has reworked its plans and strategies to sustain all-round activities. Outlining some of those, she said, SAIL made optimal utilization of the operational facilities instead of operating a greater number of facilities at a sub-optimal level. Along with the reduction in cost by reducing consumption level for various inputs, the capital repairs were also preponed wherever feasible. In these trying times, the company maximized sales volumes through potential channels like exports, dispatch to Railways while it reduced cash outflows by reviewing commitments and renegotiating contracts among others.