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History of RINL - Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd

History of Visag Steel (RINL) History of RINL

RINL is a leading Indian producer of steel long products. In the 2022 financial year, the company produced ~5.3 million tonnes of liquid steel and ~5.8 mt of hot metal.

RINL Timeline

  • Foundation Era (1970-1982): Gandhi announces Visakhapatnam steel plant decision, Visag Steel founded in 1971, detailed construction plan finalised, RINL formed, blast furnace construction commences
  • Early Operations (1983-2008): Plant construction and commissioning phase, establishing core steelmaking operations under government ownership
  • Expansion Initiatives (2009-2015): Launches plan to increase capacity from 3.6 to 6.3 mt/yr, sets up RINMOIL ferroalloy JV, faces oxygen plant explosion tragedy with 19 fatalities
  • Modernisation Efforts (2016-2019): Commissions solar panels, requests coal allocation from Steel Ministry, signs Kukunoor iron ore mine MoU with APMDC, explores cement JV with CCI, signals flat-rolled steel ambitions
  • Product Diversification (2020-2022): Commences forged railway wheel production at Lalgunj plant, starts POSCO discussions for 5mt/yr greenfield plant, faces fierce privatisation proposal opposition and worker protests
  • Privatisation Struggles (2023-2025): Privatisation delayed by two years, announces non-core asset sales for debt reduction, workers start indefinite strike over privatisation concerns, restarts idled third blast furnace
  • Safety and Asset Sales (2026): Molten iron explosion kills nine workers, e-auction of 459 surplus land plots in Visakhapatnam
Timeline shows 55-year evolution from Gandhi's 1970 announcement to current 5.3mt producer facing privatisation challenges, operational difficulties, and worker opposition while maintaining strategic importance in Indian steel sector.

The timeline below covers the history of the firm.

  • 1970: Gandhi announces decision to build Visakhapatnam steel plant.
  • 1971: Visakhapatnam Steel Plant ('Visag Steel') founded in 1971.
  • 1977: Detailed plan finalised for construction of RINL.
  • 1982: NewCo named Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) is formed.
  • 1982: Construction of first blast furnace commences.
  • 2009: Plan launched to increase capacity from 3.6 to 6.3 mt/yr.
  • 2009: Sets up RINMOIL ferroalloy joint venture.
  • 2012: 19 die in explosion soon after commissioning of oxygen plant.
  • 2016: Commences operation of solar panels at Visakhapatnam.
  • 2016: Steel Ministry requests Coal Ministry for RINL coal allocation.
  • 2017: Signs MoU with APMDC for Kukunoor iron ore mines.
  • 2017: Signs MoU for JV with Cement Corporation of India (CCI).
  • 2018: Signals ambition to commence production of flat-rolled steels.
  • 2020: Commences production of forged railway wheels.
  • 2020: Starts discussions with POSCO on 5 mt/yr greenfield steel plant in Visag.
  • 2021: Government proposal for privatisation of RINL faces fierce opposition.
  • 2021: Protests at Visag steel plant intensify as Union govt expedites privatisation.
  • 2022: RINL records Rs 28,000 crore turnover in FY22, 56% up on FY21.
  • 2023: Privatisation of RINL delayed by two years.
  • 2023: Announces plan for sale of non-core assets to reduce debt burden.
  • 2024: Government infuses Rs 1,650 cr into State-owned RINL.
  • 2025: Workers start indefinite strike - privatisation concerns.
  • 2025: Restarts its third blast furnace (idled in 2024).
  • 2026: Molten iron explosion kills 9 workers, injures 11.
  • 2026: Announces e-auction of 459 plots in Visakhapatnam.

Notes
  • 1977: M. N. Dastur & Company, headquartered in Kolkata, were the consulting engineers who prepared the RINL construction project. The original plan was for a 3.4 mt/year liquid steel capacity plant.
  • 1982: When founded, Visag Steel was under SAIL ownership. The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (more commonly known as Visag Steel) was transferred to RINL ownership in April 1982.
  • 2009: RINMOIL Ferro Alloys Private Limited was created as a Joint Venture Company of Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL) and Manganese Ore (India) Limited (later renamed M.O.I.L.) with 50:50 shareholding. The Company RINMOIL was incorporated on 29th July 2009 with the intention to a ferro alloys plant at Andhra Pradesh.
  • 2012: The explosion occurred in the recently commissioned oxygen plant in steel melt shop III. Trade union officials alleged that routine maintenance work had been neglected for over 12 months.
  • 2016: Inauguration of RINL's 5 MW solar power plant, built at a cost of Rs 33 crore, took lace in December. The investment was made in line with the government's desire for industry to make more use of renewable energy sources.
  • 2016: RINL had been requesting direct allocation of thermal and coking coal blocks for some time. The requests concerned coal blocks at Baitrani West Terminal, Talabira I & II, Choritand Tilaiya, Utkal A and Rampia in Odisha.
  • 2017: Memorandum of Understanding with Andhra Pradesh Mineral Development Ltd was for exploration and exploitation of the Kukunoor iron ore mines located in the West Godavari district and spanning an area of ~2800 hectares. Establishment of in-house iron ore mining capability was considered to be a strategic [and cost] priority at this time, especially because RINL (unlike Steel Authority of India) did not have access to a captive iron ore supply.
  • 2017: Cement JV was for investment in a two million tonne per annum cement plant supplied with blast furnace slag.
  • 2018: Preliminary discussions to start production of high-grade automotive steel reportedly took place with Hyundai in late 2018. Further discussions with POSCO and Hyundai on the topic of a greenfield steel plant investment near to the RINL Visakhapatnam plant reportedly also took place in mid-2019. The more recent talks centred on a new 3-5 million tonne / year plant that would produce special grade automotive steels. Land belonging to RINL would be Visag Steel's equity contribution to this venture.
  • 2020: Forged wheel production (for Indian Railways) commenced in February at RINL's Lalgunj plant, located near the rail coach factory in the Rae Bareli area of Uttar Pradesh. Capacity of the new wheel plant was 100,000 high speed wheels / year.
  • 2020: RINL-POSCO investment in new 5 million tonne / year Visag steel mill is estimated at Rs 35,000 crore.
  • 2021: One of the objectives of the proposed privatisation was the restoration of profitability at Visag Steel. Whilst the firm faces some cost competitiveness issues because it does not have ownership of an iron ore mine, a further problem is high debt originating from large loans taken out for modernisation and capacity expansion. Although privatisation might offer possibilities for reduction of this debt burden, this is a step that employees especially fiercely oppose.
  • 2021: July 2021 protests were in response to Union government invitations for bids from transaction advisors and legal experts, to manage the strategic sale of the steel plant.
  • 2022: The steelmaker noted in a press release that it had achieved a record production of 5.773 million tonnes of hot metal, 5.272 million tons of crude steel and 5.138 million tonnes of saleable steel in FY22 despite facing several stiff challenges ranging from COVID-19 pandemic to acute global coking coal shortage.
  • 2023: Workforce solidarity and cooperation amongst various unions (as many as 23 trade unions) proved instrumental in delaying government-driven privatisation plans for RINL.
  • 2023: Non core assets to be sold include a parcel of land in Visakhapatnam and the Raebareli railway wheel plant.
  • 2024: Rs 1,650 cr fund injection was made to maintain RINL as a going concern.
  • 2025: Poor plant loading and poor financial performance, and a lack of progress with privatisation, has plagued RINL for several years.
  • 2025: The RINL Blast Furnace #3 has been idled multiple times in recent years due to coking coal shortages. The most recent BF shutdown prior to the mid-2025 start-up was in August 2024. That shutdown also took place because of a shortage of coking coal; but the raw material shortage was particularly severe and left RINL operating with only one blast furnace out of three, causing production to drop from 21,000 tonnes per day to just 4.5 tonnes per day.
  • 2026: Molten iron explosion occurred in the melt shop as a ladle furnace containing molten steel was being moved to the caster. A sudden explosion reportedly caused the ladle to rupture.
  • 2026: Proposed land auction is intended to monetise surplus and underutilised land and building assets.