Siemens AG signs Rs.271-Crore Deal

A consortium comprising Siemens AG and Siemens Ltd has received an order from the state-owned Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) to thoroughly modernize blast furnace No. 2 at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (Vizag Steel). The share of the order value for Siemens Limited is Rs. 271 crore.

Modernization will boost the furnace's inner volume from 3,200 to 3,820 cubic metres and production increase from 1.7 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) to 2.5 million tonnes per annum.

Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, which was founded in 1990 on the coast of the Indian federal state of Andhra Pradesh, is an integrated steel works with an annual capacity of around 6.3 million tonnes of crude iron.

Modernization of the blast furnaces is part of an expansion project which is intended to boost annual pig iron production to 7.3 million tonnes. Vizag Steel currently operates three blast furnaces: two with an interior volume of 3,200 cubic metres and one with interior volume of 3800-cubic metres. Blast furnace No. 2, which was constructed in 1992, has a nominal annual capacity of 1.7 million tonnes of crude iron.