Colour me pink...--As the government relents, steel players must get their house in order

摘要

"Don't put the steel industry between two prongs, where one prong is regulated by the suppliers of raw materials and the other end is held by the regulated prices. This way the steel industry w01 crash..." said Moosa Raza, President, Indian Steel Alliance (ISA), when B&E interviewed him in March 2008. Though ISA has since dissolved, but Razas words are finding resonance today, as all major steel players of the country have, one after the other, posted losses for the third quarter ending December 2008. Will 2009 see the Indian steel sector resurface or drown? While net profit of Tata Steel and SAIL dipped by 56.36% and 56.4% respectively; JSW Steel recorded a net loss of 1.27 billion rupees as opposed to 3.55 billion rupees during the same period last year. "The losses were mainly due to rise in raw material costs, slackening demand in the home market and foreign exchange fluctuations," points out a Mumbai-based steel and metal analyst.