What followed Tata's Rs 12,100 crore acquisition was a 90-day deadline and another Rs 250 crore investment. The company which was reeling under debt and uncertain future has already churned out a revenue of Rs 4600 crore since the deal last year.
NINL or Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd, the state-owned steel company’s Odisha plant had been shut for three years. Its 2,500 acre premises had become home to snakes and scorpions with overgrown bushes and rusting machines. NINL became the first state-owned steel firm to be divested by the Narendra Modi government when it was acquired by Tata Steel through former subsidiary Tata Steel Long Products (TSLP) for Rs 12,100 crore payout. What followed was a 90-day revival project and another Rs 250 crore. The company which was reeling under debt and uncertain future has already churned out a revenue of Rs 4600 crore since the acquisition last year.
NINL is moving towards financial health working at 100 percent capacity, according to MD and CEO Sudhir Kumar Mehta who revealed the challenges that were overcome in its revival by Tata Group. A 90-day deadline was set. As Tata’s experts entered the plant, they saw a sick unit crawled by lizards, scorpions and snakes with bushes growing several feet high. They hatched out a detailed plan, began cleaning up the area, and repaired buildings and offices. The communication lines were redone with broadband connectivity.
Tata compensated all employees of the erstwhile state-owned company according to the agreement in August. Located at Kalinganagar at a distance of around 120 kms from Odisha capital Bhubaneswar NINL got a new lease of life to return to its 1 million tonne per annum (MTPA) steel manufacturing capacity. Tata Steel technical and mechanical experts worked tirelessly in Kalinganagar, Jamshedpur and Meramandali to restart the blast furnace at NINL by October 2022 to start operations at the facility again.
Tata spent another Rs 250 crore to help the plant regain its lost glory. 1,400 employees of NINL were taken into the fold. Tata heavily invested in infrastructure and skill upgrade, set up facilities like a creche to help female employees with children. NINL employees earlier had jobs but no work or salaries found it tough to feed their families and stared at an uncertain future. They are now paid on time, feel secure and are optimistic about a bright future for the company.
As part of the turnaround success, NINL churned revenue of around Rs 1,600 crore from October 2022 to March 2023. It grew to Rs 3,000 crore from April 2023 to September 2023. According to Tata Steel CEO and MD TV Narendran, “NINL is poised to grow and form a very important part of Tata Steel group’s long product portfolio.”
(Inputs from PTI)
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 "From snakes, scorpions to success: How Rs 12100 crore deal by Ratan Tata's company revived ailing government firm")
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