May 22 2006
Bhilai Steel Plant (BSP) of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has been adjudged as the best performing steel plant in the country for the year 2004-05. The Prime Minister's Trophy for the best steel plants in the country will be presented by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh at a function held in Visakhapatnam on Saturday, 20th May 2006. Besides the trophy, the award includes a citation scroll and cheque for Rs 1 crore.
Upon receiving the award, BSP will have the unparalleled distinction of becoming the only steel plant in the country, public or private, to have been honoured with the prestigious PM?s trophy seven times out of the 13 times it has been awarded since it was instituted. SAIL?s flagship plant was chosen as the winner for 2003-04 as well for its excellence in spheres of production, techno-economics, R&D efforts and product development, human resource management, employee motivation, environment management, quality as well as execution of its corporate social responsibilities.
BSP remains a leader amongst Indian steel plants in production and productivity. It has consistently operated above rated capacity and its carbon rate in blast furnaces is amongst the lowest in the country. Bhilai achieved record financial performance in a competitive market in 2003-04, with a net profit (before tax) of Rs 1932 crore. In 2004-05, the plant once again set a record with a profit (before tax) of Rs 4042 crore. It is worth mentioning that this was achieved despite constraints in coking coal availability during the later part of 2004-05.
Bhilai Steel Plant made history in production in the last financial year 2005-06 by becoming the first steel plant in the country to surpass the 5 million tonne (MT) mark in hot metal production and the only steel plant to cross the 5 MT mark in crude steel production. The plant has provided the 260 m long rails to the Indian Railways and special steel plates for manufacture of aircraft carriers for the Indian Navy. BSP has also developed and supplied corrosion-resistant rails to Railways for coastal areas and plates for manufacturing water pipelines for Godavari & Krishna water projects in Andhra Pradesh.
Redefining boundaries of performance in the Indian steel industry, BSP has achieved continuous reduction in energy consumption and consistent improvement in the quality of products, especially Rails and Heavy Plates. The plant is also the leading exporter among SAIL plants. In addition, BSP has distinguished itself in human resource development, industrial relations, manpower productivity, technological upgradation and environment management. Bhilai has also taken the lead among the SAIL plants in installing business re-engineering processes like Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Knowledge Management (KM) and Six Sigma. The CII awarded its First Sustainability Award to Bhilai Steel Plant last month for its efforts in this field.