No proposal to merge SAIL, RINL under consideration, says junior steel minister

The government is not weighing any proposal to merge the state-run steelmakers Steel Authority of India Limited and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, according to the minister of state for steel.

“No proposal to merge SAIL and RINL is under consideration of the government,” affirmed Faggan Singh Kulaste in a written response to a lawmaker’s question in the Upper House of Parliament on July 18.

India has proposed selling 100 percent stake in RINL along with management control by way of privatisation, a proposal which has led to agitation by trade unions.

RINL is the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam steel plant. The state-run steelmaker had been reeling under losses for the last few years but turned a profit in the last financial year.