VSP struggles to pay executive salaries, sparking protests
Despite good sales in February, the amount meant for salaries of executive cadre is said to have been diverted towards payment of GST, says a leader of Visakha Steel Executives Association
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), for the first time in its 42yearold history, has found it difficult to pay salaries to its executive cadre employees for the month of February as on Saturday. An amount of ₹42 crore is required to pay their salaries.
The executive cadre has started wearing black badges as part of a formal protest against the delay in payment of salaries, and hoped that salaries will be paid in the coming week starting Monday. “We used to wear black badges for other reasons, but never for salaries,” said a leader of the Visakha Steel Executives Association (VSEA).
RINLVSP requires at least ₹80₹85 crore per month to pay only net salary to both executive and nonexecutive employees. About 50% of this amount is meant for executive. Although the number of employees in executive cadre (4,403) is less than nonexecutives (9,154), their salaries are higher.
“RINL has already paid salaries of nonexecutive cadre in the first week of March. If they are not paid, the production suffers as the nonexecutive cadre is almost all related to the production side. Officials coming under the administration department are executive cadre. The company earned well from the sales in February. However, the amount meant for salaries of executive is said to have been diverted towards payment of GST. As it is the end of the financial year, if GST is not paid, the product will not go on sale and this will have an impact on the auditing of entire fiscal. Our plant does not have ₹42 crore for salaries despite earning more than ₹2,000 crore from the sales in February,” said a VSEA leader.
According to reliable sources from RINL, during 202324 (from April 1, 2023 to March 9, 2024), total steel sales were 39,81,690 tonnes. Its value is ₹22,000 crore. In February 2024 itself, the total sales volume was 4,14,516 tonnes valued at ₹2,161 crore. Speaking to The Hindu on Saturday, a senior VSP official said, “There is a problem of delayed salaries for all the executive cadre in the plant. It will be resolved soon.“