Tata changed the fortunes of the government company Image Credit source: Unsplash
Tata Group is truly like a ‘philosopher’s stone’. He has inherited this. Group founder Jamsetji Tata had also bought Mumbai’s Dharamsi Mill, which was running in loss for 4 years, and converted it into a profit-making ‘indigenous mill’. Then the changing face of ‘Air India’ is not hidden from anyone. Now Tata Group has done this once again. The group’s Tata Steel transformed a government company’s factory, in which snakes and scorpions were once crawling, in just 90 days. There were bushes on the surrounding land and the factory machines were rusted.
Here we are talking about the public sector steel company Nilanchal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL). Tata Steel of Tata Group completed the acquisition of this company based in Odisha on July 4, 2022. After rejuvenating the factory in 90 days, this company is now generating good revenue for Tata Steel.
snakes and scorpions used to crawl
Narrating the story of transformation of Nilanchal Ispat Nigam, NINL MD and CEO Sudhir Kumar said that it was a big challenge to start the company’s factory within the time limit of 90 days. At that time, snakes and scorpions used to crawl in the factory premises. Bushes were growing on the empty land, and the machines were rusted.
According to PTI news, Sudhir Mehta told that at that time Neelanchal Ispat was in debt. Now his financial condition has improved. The company’s revenue in the first half (April-September) of the current financial year 2023-24 has been around Rs 3,000 crore.
Extensive planning had to be done
The MD and CEO of the company said that the Neelanchal steel factory was lying closed for a long time. Tata Group had given a time limit of 90 days to restart it. Therefore, a detailed plan was prepared and the entire area was cleaned. Office and other buildings were repaired and re-constructed. A ‘broadband line’ was laid to connect the factory with the outside world.
Neelanchal Ispat Nigam was struggling with shortage of money. Therefore it remained closed for about 3 years. It is located in Kalinganagar, just 120 kilometers away from Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha. In August, Tata Group paid all the employees their full salaries under the acquisition agreement. The capacity of this steel plant is to produce 10 lakh tonnes (MTPA) annually.
Sudhir Mehta said that engineers from Tata Steel’s other plants in Kalinganagar, Jamshedpur and Meramandali worked non-stop to restart the NINL blast furnace. It started on 11 October 2022. The first batch of ‘billets’ was prepared within two weeks on 24th October, the day of Diwali. An initial capital of Rs 12,100 crore has been invested to restart Neelanchal Ispat Nigam.