State-run Steel Authority of India on Thursday said it will immediately pump in Rs 20 crore in Bharat Refractories to ramp up its production by 50 per cent. Ministry of Corporate Affairs had approved merger of BRL with SAIL on August 28,effective from April 1,2007. "We will revamp its units. We will also look in terms of long-term investments to increase capacity because we need more refractories. we can look for further investments for setting up new facilities also," SAIL Chairman S K Roongta told reporters on the sidelines of a steel summit here. Refractories are used in the steel industry for construction of linings of equipment such as blast furnaces,hot stoves and open hearth furnaces. "Its (BRL) production can be ramped up easily by another 50 per cent by some small capital investment. Initially there is a plan for investment of Rs 20 crore," he said. He added,the BRL which has a turnover of Rs 300 crore was producing less than capacity and there was a need to increase the production in view of high demand of refractories. With four plants in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh,BRL at present produces about one lakh tonnes of refractories against its installed capacity of 1,85,500 tonnes per annum. Of the total production of one lakh tonnes per annum,SAIL consumes nearly 70 per cent of its refractories while the rest is consumed by other steel units,he said.
