SAIL shares in focus as steel min announces capacity expansion plan for firm’s Rourkela plant

Kumaraswamy on Tuesday inaugurated a modern steelmaking facility at SAIL’s Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) and underscored the project's importance for the region's socio-economic development.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, the minister announced a plan to double RSP capacity to 9.8 million tonnes per annum.

During the visit, he also inaugurated the modern 1 MTPA slab caster, constructed with a capex of about 1,100 crore, and inspected progress at the coke oven battery and the new pellet plant currently under construction.

Kumaraswamy said, "Odisha CM Mohan Charan Majhi has also assured full support to achieve PM Modi’s 300 MT steel capacity vision."

This expansion is designed to significantly enhance supplies to critical sectors like defence, oil and gas, and automobiles.

Located at Rourkela in Odisha, around 320 km from the state capital Bhubaneswar, RSP holds the distinction of being the first public sector steel plant in India. It was set up in the 1950s with German collaboration with an initial capacity of 1 MT.

The plant became operational on February 3, 1959, when the then President of India, Rajendra Prasad, lit up the first blast furnace, Parvati.

At present, the total steelmaking capacity of SAIL stands at 20.30 MTPA, of which RSP's contribution is 4.4 MTPA.

On Thursday, SAIL shares settled at ₹139.78 apiece on NSE, gaining 0.63%.

SAIL's Q2 earnings

The state-owned company’s consolidated net profit fell more than 53% to ₹418.72 crore in the September quarter. It had clocked a net profit of ₹897.15 crore in the July-September quarter of the preceding 2024-25 financial year.

The company's total income, however, rose to ₹26,910.04 crore from ₹24,842.18 crore in the year-ago period.

In a separate statement, SAIL Chairman Amarendu Prakash said, “H1 FY26 performance demonstrates SAIL's consistency across both operational and financial metrics. The company has maintained high-capacity utilisation for steady production.”

As per the statement, in the April-September period of FY26, the company's net profit stood at ₹1,163 crore, higher than ₹978.93 crore in the six-month period a year ago.

Further, for the first half of FY26 (H1 FY26), SAIL maintained steady crude steel production at 9.5 million tonnes. Sales volume grew by 16.7% as the company expanded its outreach to retail and other consumer segments. Revenue from operations crossed ₹52,600 crore, supported by higher sales volumes despite pricing challenges in the market.