SAIL aims to bring down borrowings to ~20,000 cr

Public sector steel major, Steel Authority of India (SAIL), is looking at bringing down its borrowings to ~20,000 crore by the end of the current financial year. Soma Mondal, chairman SAIL, said that by year-end the aim is to reduce total borrowings at a level of ~20,000 crore depending on steel prices and demand situation. She was speaking on the sidelines of an event to mark the inauguration of MSTC’S corporate office building in Kolkata. At the end of the first quarter of the financial year, SAIL had said that it had reduced ~5,063 crore of gross borrowings during the quarter. During FY21, net debt had decreased by ~16,131 crore to ~35,350 crore (as on December 31, 2020). Booming steel prices, especially in the second half of last year, had led private and public sector companies to deleverage. However, the second Covid-wave dampened domestic demand over the past few months.