Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

Very good morning. I welcome you once again to this 50th Annual General Meeting of this company. In view of the COVID pandemic situation still continuing, your company has arranged for the meeting to be held through video conferencing, other audio video means in compliance with the circular issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and Study, pursuant to Article 62 of the articles of association of the company, chairman SAIL shall assume the Chair of the AGM. Now I request Chairman Soma Mondal, Chairman, she will take the Chair of AGM.

[Foreign Language]

Chairman, madam, the quorum of the meeting is present. Pursuant to the provisions of the company's 2013 and the circulars issued by the MCA and SEBI the notice has been made within the prescribed time to all the members whose e-mail id were available with the company. Chairman Madam, may I have your consent to take the notice as read?

Yes, the meeting is in order. We can take the notice as read. We say thank you all for joining the meeting virtually. Before we commence with the regular business in the AGM, I request the company's secretary to inform our members about the general advisory instructions with respect to this AGM.

Thank you, Ma'am. Since the meeting is being held through VC, in accordance with applicable circulars issued by MCA and SEBI, physical presence of the members have been dispensed with. Therefore, the facility for appointing proxy in the meeting is not available. It is an advisory for all the members who have joined the meeting virtually that the members by default are placed on mute mode by the host to avoid any kind of background disturbance and to ensure smooth and seamless conduct of the meeting. Once the name of the speaker is called out by the Chairman, the person shall be unmuted by the host to enable him/her to speak. Before speaking, the shareholder is requested to click on the video and audio. I can repeat if the shareholder is requested to click on the video and audio icon, appearing on the screen to switch it on. If for some reason, the shareholder is not able to join through VC, he/she can speak through the audio mode. Members are advised that while they speak -- when they are speaking, they may use earphones so that they are clearly audible. Any noise in the background is minimized. No other background applications are running in their laptop, mobile, Wi-Fi is not connected to any other devices, and the place is well illuminated for clarity in video. Our broadband connection with a good speed is suggested. Each speaker has been allotted a time period of 2 to 3 minutes to share his views. If there is any network connectivity problem at the speaker's end, the host will mute the speaker and the next speaker will be invited to speak. The earlier speaker having connectivity issue will be given chance after all the register speakers have been given a chance to speak. In case of connectivity and network issue or any other assistance needed, the member may seek the assistance through help line number mentioned in the notice of the AGM. Now, I request Chairman Madam to kindly address the members.

I welcome you all to the 50th Annual General Meeting of the Steel Authority of India Limited. Before I start with an address to the members, I would like to introduce my board members. To my right is Mr. V.S. Chakravarthy.

[Foreign Language]

Next to him is Shri A.K. Singh.

[Foreign Language]

And Mr. K.K. Singh.

[Foreign Language]

And on my left is Mr. M.B. Balakrishnan.

Company secretary, thank you. [Foreign Language]

And then Mr. A.K. Tulsiani, Director Finance.

[Foreign Language]

And we have our directors and independent directors and other directors of the Board who have joined through the virtual mode, and who would -- I would just -- could also introduce themselves. First, we have Mr. N. Shankrappa, Independent Director. There is disturbance, so I would go to the next. We have Shri Anirban Dasgupta, who is Director in-charge.

[Foreign Language] Anirban Dasgupta, Director in-charge, Bhilai Steel Plant, joining from Bhilai.

Then we have Mr. Amarendu Prakash.

[Foreign Language] Amarendu Prakash, Director in-charge, Bokaro Steel Plant, joining from Bokaro Steel city.

Then we have Shri A.K. Tripathy, Independent Director.

[Foreign Language]

I am Ashok Kumar Tripathy, Independent Director, joining the AGM to receive through VC from [indiscernible], and also the Chairman of Nomination and Remuneration Committee of the group.

Thank you, Tripathy sir. Then we have Shri Kanhaiya Sarda, Independent Director.

[Foreign Language] I'm Kanhaiya Sarda attending this AGM from my home at [indiscernible] through VC and wish you all best of luck.

Thank you. Then we have Smt. Neelam Sonker, Independent Director. [Foreign Language] She has joined [indiscernible]. She's not audible now. Then we have Mr. S.K. Viswanatha Raju, Independent Director.

Good morning. This is Viswanatha Raju, joining through VC from [indiscernible]. I'm Chairman of Audit Committee.

Thank you, sir. Now Smt. Neelam Sonker has joined. Ma'am can you just introduce yourself and unmute yourself first and then introduce yourself. Neelam Sonker Ma'am?

She is not able to hear, ma'am.

She's not able to hear. Okay. Then we have Dr. Gopal Singh Bhati, Independent Director. Then we have Shri Atanu Bhowmick, director in-charge.

[Foreign Language] I am Atanu Bhowmick, Director in Charge, Rourkela Steel Plant, attending the meeting through VC from Rourkela. Thank you.

Then we have Shri B.P. Singh.

[Foreign Language] I'm Brijendra Pratap Singh, Director in-charge, Burnpur and Durgapur Steel Plant, attending AGM through VC from Durgapur.

Then we have Professor Dr. K. Jayaprasad, Independent Director.

Good morning and [Foreign Language]. I'm Dr. Jayaprasad joining from [indiscernible]. I'm also the Chairman of Operation Relations Committee.

Thank you. Ma'am Neelam Sonker, she could not -- she was not audible, but she is also the Chairman of Stakeholder and Relationship Committee. We can see her and she's not audible, so just to introduce here. The President of India nominee, Neha Verma, Director, Ministry of Steel, is also attending the meeting through VC.

I'm Neha Verma, Director, Ministry of Steel joining from Delhi, Ministry itself.

Thank you, Neha. Ms. Sukriti Likhi and Shri Abhijit Narendra, Government Nominees, Directors on the SAIL Board could not attend the AGM due to prior engagement. The representatives of foreign statutory auditors and the secretary of auditor are also attending the meeting. With this, I would read the Chairman address. Dear shareholders, happiest greetings and a warm welcome to you all on the occasion of the 15th Annual General Meeting of your company. The year 2022 marked the completion of 75 glorious years of independence of our country. It's an extraordinary milestone in the journey of modern India, which resumes further significance in the light of India's preparedness to gravitate forward into India 2.0. [Foreign Language] celebration, commemorating the milestones of India at 75 have set the tone for everyone to mobilize and focus on Atmanirbhar Bharat. A self-realized India will not only provide greater opportunities or progress to the citizen, but will also offer a platform for sustainable development and inclusive growth for society at large. At this point, it's my honor to once again a preview of the achievements of your company in the financial year '21-'22. The year gone by has been a year of extreme volatility. Countries around the world, including India, have to weather fresh waves of the new variant of COVID-19. As the market started to claw back the base, the economy was pleased with very challenge towards the end of the fiscal in form of geopolitical conflict between Russia and Ukraine. While having catastrophic impact on the global economy, these events impacted the domestic steel industry in terms of raw material security, demand and supply imbalance, logistics and supply chain disruption, inflationary pressures, et cetera. While all these developments were taking place, India was going ahead steadily with its massive vaccination drive against COVID-19. As we build the incredible INR 200 crore mark within a short span of 1.5 years, the effort put in by the frontline corona warriors needs special applause. Also, the government must be commended for ambitioning, planning and executing this when it's seemed a distant dream for all the others. However, despite all the hurdles and challenges, your company delivered a resilient performance by capitalizing on the opportunities as and when the same arose. Your company performed in sync with the overall performance of the domestic steel industry by leveraging the general buoyancy in the economy to the fullest. On the production front, your company posted its best of production performance by producing 18.733 million tonnes, 17.366 million tonnes and 16.897 million tonnes of hot metal, crude steel and sellable steel, respectively, over the -- and this was registering a growth of 7%, 7% and 12%, respectively, over the previous best. In addition to this, your company also achieved its yearly best performance in respect of techno-economic parameters like coke rate, CDL rate and specific energy consumption going to better aspect utilization of bigger blast furnaces, optimization of BF operations and enhanced usage of CDI. To meet the ever-evolving requirement of the market, your company has been continuously taking several initiatives for the development of newer products. During FY '22, 11 new steel products were developed, which are expected to strengthen the country in strategic areas such as railways, infrastructure and construction, defense, et cetera. Some of these products have been developed from the newly commissioned production facility, the most prominent among them being the R-260 grade and 60E1 profile rails. DMR 301 plates, LHB axles, cable armor quality wirerods, high carbon wirerod in HC82B, high silicon cold-rolled coil for electrical applications, wide parallel flange beam WPB200 for railway sleepers, TMT, FE-550D, HCR and Fe600 for infra and construction sector, high strength and coated galvanized products for agriculture and solar industry, et cetera. Further, a large number of new initiatives were undertaken across our plants for process improvements with special impacts on productivity and quality improvement, product development and commercialization, energy conservation and automation. The effort made by our company bore the fruits in the form of the highest ever sales of 16.152 million tonnes during FY '22, which is a growth of 8% over the previous best. Your company has commanded a leadership role for decades in the domestic sector. With the addition of new capacity, SAIL continues its effort to not only expand its sales volumes in the domestic sector, but also increase its presence in the global markets. New markets are regularly explored to provide new channels for export. Export sales of 1.353 million tonnes during FY '22 marked the third consecutive year your company crossed 1 million tonne mark of exports. During FY '22, about 5.89 lakh tonnes of TMT bars was supplied to retail. To meet the expectations and demand of the retail sector, SAIL's expanding its 2-tier and 1-tier distribution network across India, which will further strengthen our position in the B2C space. With a view to facilitate procurement of TMT bars to retail customers SAIL have introduced an e-sales platform by the new sales [Foreign Language]. The popularity of our company's branded products like SAIL secure for TMT bars and NEX for structurals have been continuously growing from the market. To popularize these brands, your company has been organizing pivotal as well as virtual meetings with user groups like architects, builders, civil engineers, structural designers and consumers, et cetera. Your company is actively involved in promotion of steel usage in the country while undertaking sales through distributor dealer network. Various outdoor/indoor media campaigns are being regularly done for brand promotion as well as to promote steel usage. Apart from servicing the regular customers, your company is also making efforts to tap the potential of rural India for which regular workshops have been conducted under the rural outreach program, Gaon Ki Ore. Despite the challenges of COVID during FY '22, 130 such workshops were conducted across the country. In the MSME segment, SAIL under the AGs of Mission Purvodaya program of the Government of India has introduced an incentivization scheme Ispaati Ilakon ka Vikas: SAIL ke Sath for the development of MSMEs based in the districts in which the integrated steel plants of our company are located. Around 142 MSMEs have joined this scheme till FY '22. SAIL has been the preferred choice of steel for the nation since its inception. SAIL's steel has strengthened the infrastructure projects, including projects of strategic importance to India. Carrying on the legacy, SAIL has supplied a significant quantity of steel to projects like power, road, rail, airport and port infrastructure, metro rail, irrigation and drinking water, fertilizer industry, oil and gas sector, et cetera. The major projects being regional rapid transport system, Delhi-Meerut expressway, Eastern-dedicated freight corridor corporation, Western dedicated freight corridor corporation, HPCL Rajasthan Refinery Limited Barmer, Bullet Train Project from Ahmedabad to Mumbai for National High Speed Railway Corporation Limited, India's longest river road bridge of 19 kilometers at Dhubri to Phulbari over river Brahmaputra, et cetera. On the raw materials front, your company has delivered its best ever performance by mining iron ore about 34.15 million tonnes during FY '22. The requirement of other inputs like coal and fluxes were made partially to production from tactic sources at 0.18 million tonnes and 1.89 million tonnes respectively. However, as the country has very low production of coking coal as compared to the demand, which is being imported by domestic steel producers including your company, in order to bridge the gap between the requirement and indigenous capability and to improve quality. The year gone by saw your company enter, for the first time, into the elite club of Indian companies having a turnover above INR 1 lakh crores. The turnover of INR 1.03 lakh crores during FY '22 saw an astronomical growth of more than 50% over the previous best of INR 68,452 crores achieved during FY '21. The increase in turnover, coupled with improved operational performance, helped the company achieve its highest ever numbers in terms of profitability, earnings before interest, tax and depreciation and amortization that is EBITDA at INR 22,364 crores, profit before tax at INR 16,029 crores, and profit after tax at INR 12,015 crores, which grew by 63%, 40% and 59%, respectively, over the previous best. The improvement in profitability provided added momentum to the trust already been put on improving the leverage position. During FY '22, your company reduced this by over approximately INR 22,000 crores from INR 35,350 crores. This is non-ETS, as of 31st March '21 to INR 13,386 crores as on 31st March, '22. These figures are non-ETS. The company decided to share the benefits of outstanding financial performance with its investors and paid an interim dividend twice during the year at 40% and 25% at face value. Further, the Board of Directors of your company has recommitted another 22.50% towards the final dividend for the year. The cumulative dividend at 87.5% is our highest ever for any financial deal. With the improvement in profitability and liquidity, the company sees the opportunity to meet some of its long pending aspiration of other stake key holders that is the employees. The company settled the wage division as well as the long-pending pension liability for the employees. Your company has been undertaking several projects of strategic importance for its growth and sustenance. During FY '22, 3 major facilities were commissioned in SAIL plants, which includes a 3.2 million tonne Hot Strip Mill at Rourkela, which will issue a competitive product quality and enriched product rate. Secondly, a new Slab Caster with associated facilities in SMS-1 at Bokaro, which phased out the obsolete Ingot casting route with continuous casting facility of steel. And thirdly, installation of 1 into 250-megawatt thermal plant at Rourkela, which was commissioned by NSPCL, a 50-50 JV of sale and NTPC. Apart from this, your company has also been taking steps for installation of the 4th Caster at SMS-III of Bhilai. Your company's corporate social responsibility objectives have been defined in compliance with the concerned statutes, which includes the Company Act 2030 and rules framed thereunder as well as the DPE guidelines. Your company focuses in the CSR activities in various areas of national priorities that is education, health, skills development, women empowerment, assistance to divyangs and senior citizens, et cetera. During FY '22, SAIL has incurred an expenditure of more than INR 94 crores on CSR. Your company continued to play a proactive part in the collective fight against COVID-19. SAIL activated a scaled response towards management of COVID-19 at its plants, units, mines, township to ensure the health and safety of its employees and all other persons working at the sites. Arrangements had been made for touch-free hand sanitizers, spraying disinfectants, using digital thermal recorders, et cetera. SAIL plants and units distributed food, medicines face masks, aprons, gloves, et cetera, to the vulnerable and needy sections of the society. SAIL hospitals, manned by highly qualified doctors and other paramedical staff work around the clock. SAIL hospitals, earmarked 1,000-dedicated COVID beds, with oxygen support and 129 ICU beds with ventilator support given the surge in cases, created 600 beds quarantine facilities and developed COVID-19 testing facilities like RAT, RTPCR, TRU-NAT in coordination with the respective state governments. Further, SAIL plans have set up separate jumbo COVID-19 SAIL facilities equipped with gaseous oxygen through dedicated pipelines from the plants. During Q1 and the year when Healthcare infrastructure was faced with serious shortage of liquid medical oxygen, your company rose to the occasion and supplied over 1.3 lakh metric tonnes of LMO to different states of the country through Railway Oxygen Express from the facilities in steel plants. In line with the country's vaccination drive, your company also undertook the initiatives of vaccination of its employees, their families and other people working in plants, units as well as the facility. SAIL's efforts as a responsible corporate citizen and partner in national building have been recognized in several forums in form of awards and accolades won by the company. to name a few, during the year, your company has the prestigious Golden Peacock Environment Management Award for the year 2021 in the steel sector by the Institute of Directors, while the employee of SAIL also won accolades like Prime Minister Shram Awards, 31 employees won 6 awards for the year 2018, and Vishwakarma Rashtriya Puraskar 52 employees won 11 awards for the year 2018. As a responsible corporate citizen, your company has done its environmental vision in consonance with the corporate environment policy, which not only addresses the need for compliance with stipulated norms, but also emphasizes striving to go beyond. While the SAIL plants and mines operate that processes without disturbing the ecological balance, they have also been taking all appropriate measures to restore and rehabilitate the degraded ecosystem and maintain the enhanced biodiversity. These include ecological restoration of mined-out areas, fresh plantation, bio-sequestration of carbon dioxide, enhancing utilization of waste, utilization of renewable energy sources, et cetera. Structured plantation programs are being carried out every year in the steel plants and mines. More than 3.6 lakh saplings were planted during the year FY '22, taking the cumulative plantation of SAIL to 21.5 million trees. SAIL plants and mines are efficiently operating the pollution control devices and facility and maintaining them regularly through revamping, refurbishing, revitalization and also upgrading them. As a result of these efforts, all the sustainability parameters like solid waste utilization, specific water consumption, specific particulate matter emission load, specific affluent discharge, specific affluent load, et cetera, have showed improvement with respect to previous year. With an ambition for promotion of circular economy and improved environmental footprint, SAIL has signed the MOU with ICAR-IARI participating as an industrial partner and part finance Ministry of Steel facilitated project development of steel slag based cost-effective eco-friendly fertilizer for sustainable agriculture and inclusive growth. In line with the government of India's enhanced ambitions of COP '26, your company has reaffirmed its commitment to substantially reduce carbon dioxide emission and increase the share of renewable nonconventional energy by 2030 as well as to achieve net zero emission by 2070. Further actions are taken to achieve the long-term goal of zero liquid discharge across all SAIL plants through adequate treatment and recycling of affluent being discharged through outfalls at the plant boundaries. As a part of all India coordinated research project for combating diversification by enhancing vegetation cover and people livelihood in degraded dry lands and deserts of India, SAIL engaged Institute of Forest Productivity, Ranchi for eco-restoration of mined out area and waste dumps separately for Kiriburu iron ore mines and Meghahatuburu iron ore mines. Further to add to the natural wealth of the country, SAIL developed biodiversity Park-Vasundhara, and Ispat Nandan Vihar, spreading over a landscape of 409 acres at DSP, and an area of 1.5 acres at RSP, respectively. A responsible, corporate always maintains and conducts business in a transparent manner. The company has adopted the vision mechanism for conducting affairs, with a care and transplant manner by adopting the highest standard of professionalism, honesty, integrity and ethical behavior. All employees of the company and directors on the board of the company are covered under this mechanism. Your company is committed to the highest standard of corporate governance in line with the vision and credos. In this connection, your company follows the philosophy of ensuring transparency, disclosures and reporting that not only conform to laws, regulations and guidelines, including the Companies Act 2013, SEBI LODR regulations, 2015 DPE guidelines, et cetera, but also go beyond. Your company promotes ethical conduct throughout the organization with the primary objective of enhancing shareholders' value. The same reflects in the policies of the company, which ensure transparency, accountability, disclosures and reporting. In line with the National Steel Policy 2017, your company has formulated its vision 2030, whereby it is envisaged to enhance the crude steel capacity significantly. As the leverage position has improved, your company has started working in the land bank study for the next phase of expansion. Your company is also proactively working for adopting digital transformation, which is a prerequisite in today's world of the dynamic business environment. SAIL has embarked on the digital transformation journey by adapting Industry 4.0, which is transforming companies through data-led intelligent operations. Your company has also formulated IT road map outlining the IT vision of the organization. As mentioned earlier, the economic scenario post COVID-19 pandemic has been quite volatile. The advent of COVID-19 saw the projections being revised downward quite sharply by agencies across the globe. Contrary to the same, the economy showed a faster -- much faster recovery. However, the fresh waves of COVID have been hindering economic progress intermittently as normalcy was slowly setting in, factors like inflationary pressure and the Russia Ukraine war, a slowdown in the countries like China and tightening monetary policies have again made the projections go haywire. IMF, in its World Economic Outlook published in July 2022, has projected the world growth outlook for CY calendar year '22 and calendar year '23 at 3.2% and 2.9%, respectively, which is a sharp decline from 6% achieved in calendar year '21, measuredly on account of lower growth in the advanced economies. The advanced economies are projected to grow at 2.5% and 1.4% during calendar year '22 and '23, respectively, again a far cry from 5.2% achieved during calendar year 2021. The emerging markets and developing economies will also be building the brunt, but I expect it to outbound the advanced counterparts by growing at 3.6% and 3.9% during calendar year '22 and '23, respectively. India is expected to grow at 7.4% and 6.1% during calendar year '22 and '23, respectively, which is again a reduction of 8.7% achieved during calendar year '21, but enough to return the fact of being amongst the fastest growing major economies. As far as the steel demand is concerned, the general problems affecting the world economy have had a major negative impact on the global steel demand as financial market volatility and heightened uncertainty is undermining investments. The Russia, Ukraine war in particular has caused greater distress for the steel industry as it has led to major disruptions in the supply chain, both upstream and downstream. For the first half of calendar year '22 has seen a decline of about 5.5% in the crude steel production over the previous year with all major steel-producing countries barring India, registering a negative growth. India, on the other hand, has recorded a growth of 8.8% in the crude steel production. The short range outlook published by the World Steel Association in April '22 has projected growth at 2.2% during CY calendar year '23. However, the outlook for '23 is based on the assumption that Russia-Ukraine war will come to an end during the course of '22. The Indian steel industry has performed quite well post-COVID-19, mainly from the demand created by investments in the infrastructure project as a part of the economy revival measures by the government. The infrastructure spending are expected to drive the growth in the coming years. The auto segment, which has been relatively disappointing due to the global semiconductor shortages, has now started signs of revival. Accordingly, as per WSA, that is the World Steel Association, the Indian steel industry is predicted to fare better than its counterparts with the growth rate of 6% during calendar year 2023. Your company believes that building trust will enhance its reputation and boost the confidence of its investors and stakeholders. In line with this SAIL has been proactively and regularly sharing key information with all stakeholders through use of different communication channels. I take this opportunity to inform you that pursuant to the circulars from the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, the 50th Annual General Meeting of the company is being held through video conferencing. We see another audio visual means providing our far spread shareholders an opportunity to attend this AGM, which otherwise was difficult as per the earlier practice of requiring physical presence. The annual report of the company transmitting the entire year the report of the Board of Directors and the audited accounts of the year ending 31st March '22 along with the reports of statutory auditors and controller and auditor General of India has already been circulated with your permission and the [indiscernible], I shall take it as read. At the end, I take this opportunity to thank all shareholders of the continued trust and support. I must also thank our valued customers, trusted suppliers, the central and state governments, our talented employees who have always stood by the company and contributed to the progress of SAIL. I especially convey my thanks to the Ministry of Steel whose continuous guidance and support, especially during the challenging times, made it possible for the company to deliver this commendable performance. I also thank all stakeholders who have contributed internally and externally through the improved performance of the company. I look forward to the continued support and unflinching trust they have placed on us. Register of the directors and key managing personnel maintained under Section 170 of the Companies Act 213 is available in the electronic mode for inspection of the members. Any member who wants to inspect this report can request through e-mail ID,[ [email protected] ], which is also mentioned in the notice of the AGM. Copies of the financial statement for the year ending 31st March '22, auditor's report and secretary and audit report have been -- have already been sent to the members of the company and are also available in electronic mode by inspection by members. The representatives of joint statutory auditors and secretary auditors are also present in this meeting. Now I request the company secondary to read the auditor's report. Company secretary.

Thank you. I just draw the attention of the members to the independent auditors' report on the stand-alone financial statements of the company for the year 2021, '22, held at Page #131, which states that we have audited the accompanying standalone financial statements of Steel Authority of India Limited, which comprise the balance sheet as of 31st March 2022, the statement of profit and loss account, the other comprehensive income, the cash flow statement, the statement of changes in equity for the years then ended, and a summary of the significant accounting policy. Notes and other explanatory information hereinafter referred to as the stand-alone financial statement, in which are included the returns for the year ended on that date, audited by the branch auditors of the company branches, listed in Appendix 2. The auditor's independent auditors report contained 3 qualifications, the modified opinion as referred to in Note 47.2 to the accompanying stand-alone financial statements with regard to the disputed Entry Tax Act in various states amounting to appropriately -- amounting to INR 1,419.51 crores as on 31 March 2022. In the absence of the sufficient appropriate evidence to support the management's view, we are of the opinion that a provision for entry tax liability should be recognized in the stand-alone financial statements. As referred to in the second modified opinion, as referred to in 47.2 relating to the advance of INR 587.72 crores paid under dispute to Damodar Valley corporation against the bills for supply of power for the period up to 31st March, 2017, the matter is under litigation with Jharkhand Electricity Regulatory Commission for finalization of tariff, pending which the management is of the view that the amount is fully recoverable and thus, no adjustment is required in the company's stand-alone financial statements. However, in the absence of the sufficient appropriate evidence to support the management's contention of the recoverability of these balances, we are of the opinion that an allowance for possible non-recoverability of such advance should be created in the stand-alone financials statements. The independent auditor reports have also done the advance to the modified opinion in note 49.16 which is relating to goods received, invoice received, GR/IR accounts, grouped under trade payables, payables for capital work, the balance of sending as of 31 March, 2022 with INR 101.54 crores, against 31st March, balance of INR 304.08 crores. As part of the process, the plant has written back an amount of INR 186.16 crores during the year ended 31st March, 2022. In the absence of requisite supporting documentation, we are unable to comment on the accuracy of the completeness of the amount written back and the resultant impact of the ongoing reconciliation of the company stand-alone financial statements and related internal controls over financial reporting. And the independent auditors -- by the independent auditor's report by the joint special auditors have been signed on behalf of Tej Raj & Pal Chartered Accountants firm registration #304124E by B. Vijay partner, the membership #214678. For S. Jaykishan Chartered Accountants firm registration #309005E, by Vivek Newatia, Partner membership #062636. For Walker Chandiok & Company Limited charter accountant firm registration number 001076N/N500013 by Neeraj Sharma partner membership number 502103. For KASG and company chartered accountant firm registration number 002228C, Keshaw Kumar Harodia, partner, membership number 034751. The independent auditors reported later 23 May 2022. The management replies have been mentioned again each of the modified opinion and the independent auditor's report in Pages 121 -- 131 to 150. It may be pertinent to mention here that the joint statutory auditors have also maintained the same observation and our modified opinion the consolidated financial statements of India -- consolidated financial statements of SAIL. I run you through the management replies to the comments of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India under section 1436B of the Company's Act 2013 on stand-alone financial statements of Steel Authority of India Limited for the year ended 31st March, 2022 held at pages 151 to 153. The preparation of the financial statement of Steel Authority of India limited for the year 31st March, 2022 in accordance with the financial reporting framework prescribed on the company that 2013 is the responsibility of the management of the company. The statutory auditors are appointed with the Comptroller in Auditor General of India under section 139-5 of the Act, are responsible for expressing the opinion on the financial statements under Section 143 of that based on independent audits in accordance with the standards on auditing prescribed under Section 143 subsection 10 of that. This is stated to have been done by them by their audit report dated, 23 May, 2022. But the Comptroller and Auditor General of India have made 9 comments classified under the head comments on profitability, comments on financial position and comments on disclosure. The report is signed on behalf of the Comptroller and Audit General of India by U. S. Prasad, Director General of Audit, Steel, Ranchi place Ranchi dated 28 July, 2022. The management reply has been mentioned against each of the comment in C&AG report in the pages 151 to 153. It is pertinent to mention here that the same set of comments have also been maintained by the C&AG in the consolidated financial statements of the company for the financial year 2021, '22. Running through the statutory auditors report, which states that we have conducted the pivotal audit and the compliance of the applicable statutory provisions and reference to the good corporate practices of SAIL. Secretarial Audit was conducted in a manner that provided us a reasonable basis for evaluating the corporate contracts, statutory compliances and expressing our opinion thereon. They have made 3 observations under regulation 17-1b of the security, the first one, the regulation 17-1a of the Securities and Exchange Board of India, LODR regulation 2015. And as for the second provision of Section 149-1 of the company at 2013, the Board of Directors did not consist of an independent woman Director for the previous 1/4/2021 to 14/11/2021. And the number of nonexecutive directors on the board was less than 50% during the period from 1/4/2021 -- through 7 November 2021. The second observation under Regulation 17-1b of the SEBI LODR regulation section 149-4 of company's decks and clause 3.1.4 of the DPE guidelines on corporate governance for central public sector enterprises. The number of independent directors on the Board is less than 50% during the 1st April 2021 to 17 November, 2021. And 21 December, '21 through 31st March, 2022. Consequently, in terms of the clause 3.1.2 of DPE guidelines on corporate governance for central public sector enterprises, the company should have requisite number of functioning directors on the Board of SAIL. Observation #3, regulation 17-10 and 25-4 of SEBI LODR regulation 2015 and Section 178 of the company said the company shall carry over the performance in relation of directors. The secretary auditor report has been signed on behalf for the other Agarwal S. & Associates company secretaries by Sachin Agarwal partner, FCS #5774. It is dated 25 August, 2022, place New Delhi. The management replies are developing the Board's report page 46, 47 of the annual report of the company. Thank you. Turning over.

The business to be conducted at this AGM and the objectives and complications of the resolutions to be passed have been entailed in the notice of the AGM. Now I request Company Secretary to explain the process of voting.

Basically, on the agenda items that have been included in the notice of the meeting. In the ordinary business, we have to receive, consider the auditor stand-alone financial statements of the company for the financial year ended 31st March 2022, together with reports of the Board of Directors and auditors thereon; the audited consolidated financial statements of the company for the financial year ended 31st March 2022 and the report of the auditors thereon; the second item being to appoint the Director in case of Amarendu Prakash, #08896653, who retires by rotation at this annual general meeting and eligible for the appointment; item #3 to appoint directors in place of Atanu Bhowmick, #08891338, who retires by rotation at this Annual General Meeting and is eligible for reappointment; to authorize Item #4, to authorize the Board of Directors to fix the remuneration of the auditors of the company appointed by the controllers and Auditor General of India for the year '22/'23; the Item #5 to confirm payment of first and second interim dividend at the rate of INR 4 and INR 2.5 per equity share of face value of INR 10, respectively, for the financial year '21, '22; and to declare a final dividend for the financial year 2021, '22 at a rate of INR 2.25 per equity share of the face value of INR 10 each. Note that special business items, item #6 to appoint Krishna Kumar Singh, #09310667 as a whole-time Director of the company; item #7, to appoint Arvind Kumar Singh, #09725842 as the whole-time Director of the company; item #8 to ratify the remuneration of the [indiscernible] of the company for the financial year 2022, '23; to authorize -- Item #9 to authorize the Board to carry out the material related to the transactions which [indiscernible] Power Supply -- Power Company Limited on an aggregate value -- for an aggregate value of up to INR 6,000 crores during financial year '22, '23 at arm's length and in ordinary course of business of the company; Item #10, to authorize the board to carry out material related for the transactions with Bokaro Power Supply Company Private Limited for an aggregate value of up to INR 3,000 crores during financial year '22/'23 at arm's length and in ordinary cost of business of the company; and Item #11 to authorize the Board to carry out the material related party transaction with [indiscernible] Limited, Mozambique, for an aggregate value of up to INR 4,000 crores during financial year '22, '23 at arm's length and in ordinary course of business of the company. In compliance with the SEBI regulations 2013, the company has offered remotely working facility to all its members to [indiscernible] deal in respect of the items listed to be transacted at this AGM. The details regarding the user AGM password, including instructions for e-voting were provided in the notice. The remote e-voting was opened from 9 a.m. on 24th September, 2022 to 5:00 p.m. on 27th September, 2022. Members who have voted electronically are allowed to participate in the AGM, but not to vote again. Members who have not voted electronically and attending the AGM may cast their votes to e-voting facility in the meeting. As the voting is being done through electronic means, submitting voting by show of hands is not required. The company has appointed [indiscernible] as scrutinizer to scrutinize the remote e-voting business and e-voting during the AGM in a fair and transparent manner. As it will take some time to compile the votes casted, the results of the voting, both through the remote voting and the e-voting during the AGM, along with the scrutinizer's report will be made available on the website of the company and the agency that is [indiscernible] NSDL within 2 working days. The details are also available in the notice of the AGM. Madam, now I request you to kindly carry forward.

Thank you. Members may put their queries, if any. The query should relate to the business of the AGM. Accounts or performance of the company, each member may speak for 2 to 3 minutes. No personal issues shall be entertained at this AGM. Now we can...

We have the first -- first speaker [indiscernible].

Mr. [indiscernible], please?

Mr. [indiscernible] had already sent his question.

But we can ask the -- so that the others can hear. [indiscernible], sir.

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language] Moderators allow the videos?

Allowed, sir.

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

Can we go to the next?

[Foreign Language] Thank you.

[Foreign Language] thank you, sir. And you have always been with SAIL. We have -- so for the -- all your good wishes over the period of time, we thank you. There have been some questions only -- by putting the put questions answered [Foreign Language]. [Foreign Language] we have done a study, and we are working on some or expansions at all the Eastern side of plants, like one for Durgapur, Bokaro and Rourkela, and some of them would be a brownfield expansion like existing plant [indiscernible]. And like in [indiscernible], we are looking at whether we can set up a separate capacity within that. Maybe in the next 6 or 8 months, how we streamline [indiscernible] win [Foreign Language] 6, 8 months will be finalized [indiscernible]. And then we will be able to say exactly, but we have [indiscernible] vision in line with the national steel policy. We have done a study [Foreign Language] by 2030, '31 around 32 million, 33 million tonnes per [indiscernible] good steel capacity [Foreign Language]. But this is provided we have enough funds to fund this expansion in 1:1, that P2P should be 1:1. There should be enough demand in the market, all that considering all that. We would like to look into this place. But last study -- great questions [Foreign Language] policy, which is very important policy of disposing wastage, any wastage of the company. [Foreign Language] reuse, recycling and recovery, on hazardous waste [indiscernible] facility [indiscernible] hazardous, and I don't think rules 2016 [Foreign Language], and the subsequent amendments [Foreign Language]have no hospital, [indiscernible] hospital, health centers, bio medical waste, or biomedical waste management [indiscernible] [Foreign Language] biodegradable and nonbiodegradable [Foreign Language] solid waste management tools 2016 [Foreign Language] to produce manual and use of horticulture, we are looking at that also. And we are also bulk consumer electrical and electrical equipment and -- which we have e-waste management rules 2016 [indiscernible]. And the waste [indiscernible] since it's a big company, complex operations we have, we do have a lot of generated waste. But it's caught in the -- as per the policy in the best SAIL practice so that environment is not impacted, we do the waste disposal. After 8 question regarding CSR last year, INR 94.24 crores CSR [indiscernible], we have already said in the Chairman statement. And also, you had asked about how much fire audit inspection has been done. So inspection [Foreign Language] in fire audit may -- starting [indiscernible] steel plant, we have done around 506 inspection in [indiscernible] ideas to small plants like CFP. We have done around 6 -- so depending on the place and depending on how much -- how fire prone it is, we do have fire inspections. You have also very important point to have raised is what is the gender ratio, what are we doing towards reducing the gender ratio. We are present at 16 male to 1 female employee. This was as of date, we have as on 1/9/22 we have around 3,690 women in place. And out of -- and the total representation is around 6.05%. And in executive it's 5.6% plus in nonexecutive, it is executive, which is slight better at 8.6%. [Foreign Language] percentage here, we have slightly improved over previous year. This last year, it was 5.8%, and this -- we have been able to increase as of 1/4/22, it was 5.98%. So also a large -- with a large employee base, a small increase is encouraging, but we have to do much more. Now we find women are keen to work in the challenging roles of SAIL. SAIL is an equal opportunity employer, but what happens is in companies like in steel or there is the hot zones like the blast furnace, SMS, mines are also challenging. So in this challenging area, we used to find women were less -- not much interested. So -- but now we find that women have started showing a lot of interest. We have a lot of women working in the [indiscernible]. We even have women crane drivers also. So a lot of initiatives we have been taking to encourage women. [indiscernible] policies have implemented these normal hedge [indiscernible] provisions of restroom to normalize. Beyond that, what we have done is child care leave policies, sabbatical leave policy, short-term working period policy. Then we have the prevention of sexual harassment at workplace, prevention of sexual harassment at workplace, more policy is also being followed. We have also spoken about physically challenged, what are we doing for PWDs, [indiscernible] we follow the policies not only follow the policies. We try to be more positive towards -- to provide a positive environment, an encouraging environment for the PWD. And we have a realization of maximum age for PWD. As for the interviews, we have traveling expenses are paid. We have friendly parking areas, wheelchair-accessible doorways, medical support through [indiscernible], units and medical facility, [indiscernible]. Indeed that we have a specific [indiscernible] also, which is with people with disabilities. So we hope in the times to come, we can increase the repair the -- how much more we can do for the people with physical challenge. I think anything else, sir, you would like -- you have a question or that could be all? You have asked about booster dose also. And most of those -- sir, we are having an we are having camps, organizing vaccination camps to enable the benefit of the booster vaccination program of the government of India, [indiscernible]. And -- so -- and you have also asked about what we are doing in terms of tax dispute, if we have -- we've also [indiscernible] we have taken -- we have taken advantage of this and around 35% income tax related cases we have solved in 2020. And entry time dispute with government of [indiscernible] also was settled under dispute -- under the [indiscernible] settlement of dispute 2023. So we keep on following up with the various governments to see what best all the pending cases, how best we can solve that. With all the state governments, we have been doing that.

We go to the next -- we can go to the next [indiscernible] is it okay?

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language] Firstly, I would like to convey my good wishes to all the Board members on this 50th AGM of the company, Golden Jubilee [Foreign Language]. I'm thankful to the management for giving me this opportunity to interact and put my question before you. Ma'am, my one question is there is a scheme launched by the government [indiscernible]. [Foreign Language] Thanks for giving me -- a big thanks to the management team at CES for a well prepared annual report, which has all the information about the company. All section that has been covered in very lucid and transparent manner. And what I feel as a shareholder and consider that rich experience of the Board will help the leadership team in achieving bigger milestone, and it will soon reflect on our stock price, too. Best wishes to each one of you ahead of the festival season that in Navaratri and Diwali, thanks to all [indiscernible] for your good health, happy and prosperous life. Thank you very much, ma'am. [Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language] impact or demand supply worldwide, there's a major fall in demand. And -- but at the same time, there is a fall in supply also. The prices that they have a period of time because of Ukraine war, but domestic market may look [indiscernible]. Because of the government's infrastructure push, we have been able to keep up with the demand. So as on date, we don't see any sluggishness in the domestic market, and we would expect it to grow -- continue with the continued push of infrastructure push of the government. And regarding -- and thank you for appreciating our efforts and your good wishes during COVID time. And even now, all our efforts, yes, we have been trying to do our best for our people and also at the society at large during COVID when everybody had a lot of issues. And SAIL is there for the country and the countrymen always. And regarding your [indiscernible] I would request our Director Finance to be able to [indiscernible].

Good morning. Good morning, shareholders. [Foreign Language] in 2020. And now our endeavor is that we should have minimum any litigation with the government or with any agencies. And we are continuously following that policy. And regarding the entry tax, we had also settled an entry tax case of [indiscernible] ones in the year '21. And there are other cases also, but we are following it up. And we are on a very strong grounds in many of these cases. So we would not like to have any settlement, we are strong. Thank you very much.

We go to the next speaker, shareholder. [Foreign Language]

[Foreign Language] It is a very sad [indiscernible] [Foreign Language] caring for our company [Foreign Language]

Thank you so much. And just for the dividend, last year's one -- last year, the final dividend, you will be getting in your account very soon. And this year, dividend, of course, will depend on how the performance is. We would try our best to do whatever best we can do for the stakeholders.

Thank you so much. Next Mr. [indiscernible].

Hello. Good morning, respected Chairman, Board of Directors, fellow shareholders, my name is [indiscernible] joined this meeting from Calcutta at my residence. Ma'am, thanks to you for the best and excellent result of the company for the year '21, '22, and I feel proud to be a part of SAIL from 1991 when the SAIL came in public. At that time, I purchased the shares. And I have seen 8 Chairman in the company, from Mr. [indiscernible] to Mr. [indiscernible]. And now you come and we feel proud that you will take the company on new heights, under your new leadership which fulfill the vision of our beloved Prime Minister of country, Sri Narendra Modi, to take the company in new shape and with the new products of value-added products to the customers. I compete with the private sector like JSW and Tata Steel. Now that you've seen in last week that Tata Steel has come with a scheme to all steel companies with the Tata Steel to make it that big company. So you should also consider to make the SAIL be they compete with the ArcelorMittal of U.K. and India. That SAIL should be, become ArcelorMittal. And thanks to you for your CSR, thanks for your dividend and some MIM metal prices has gone up. And how you face the competition and how you face the inflation because inflation has gone up by 20% to 30%, and how you face the competition to realize that money, because you can't increase the prices in the market. And I thank to you that you will follow the [indiscernible] the tax disputed and steel brand. And you should bring best from the brand ambassador from the medal winner from Olympic and Commonwealth Games, because in this year, due to our Prime Minister's result after 2018, he has spent INR 18,000 crores to inspire the sports sector in the country so that our team has got the 7 medals in Olympic and 27 medal in Commonwealth. Especially female has won several medals. So you inspired the females to take part in the sports and other activities to [Foreign Language], I strongly support all the resolution and think about to reward the shareholders on the eve of [indiscernible] on the Golden Jubilee under your leadership. And best wishes to you, each one of you for the coming festival of Navaratri and Diwali. Thank you.

Thank you so much, and happy Diwali to you and all the shareholders and stakeholders who are connected in this meeting. There are 2 or 3 questions, which you raised. One is about -- you spoke about the competition and the inflation. You see it on the prices. The prices are market-driven, so the prices have -- you have spoken about the prices being high, it had gone on, it has come down. So it will be -- it is a demand and supply position, based on -- and it's impacted by the global prices the way the global prices move. So we -- it is mainly impacted by that. So our profitability, our dividend, everything is -- along with our physical performance, the market also plays an important role. You spoke about as what we -- for the country, how we are doing for the country. I would like to say that we are the nation builder. Right from the late '50s when our plant started -- we have been supplying steel to every nook and corner of the country. The amount of branches and warehouse which we have, we support any other company. And if you look at the rails on which as we go on the trains the rails are all the -- you can say India travels on Steel Authority of India's rails. So we'll continue -- we are proud to be the nation's builders and mission builder, and we would continue to be that. And I think that was your major question.

Ma'am, open your doors to meet the investors. Come to the [indiscernible] we can meet with to you.

We look to it. Thank you so much. We look into it.

We'll try to go to the next. [indiscernible]

[indiscernible] you are not audible. So we will take you later. So can we try bit trying to speak also.

So [indiscernible], I think your mic is in a low volume. You need to increase the volume of your mic.

Mr. Bharat is connecting again. So we just wait for some time for him. Mr. [indiscernible]

Very good morning, entire Board of Directors. First of all, I'm happy to see you are all fine. I'm [indiscernible] from Hyderabad, Madam. Madam, a wonderful performance. I congratulate all the management in this [indiscernible] wonderful revenue and wonderful business manner. I thank the management for the dividend payout. Madam, my 1 question is there in this present market, we don't know who will taper out or we don't know all the government plans will be there or they may given through some of the [indiscernible]. So how SAIL is ready to face the challenge? Recently, [indiscernible], there is a lot of issues are going on. Tomorrow, it may be happen in SAIL. So how you want to take care of your employees? How do you want to take care of the asset of our country? So please let me know, sir, that is only 1 question. Once again, Madam Chairman and entire Board of Directors, we always support all the resolutions. Once again, congratulations for the wonderful performance. The SAIL is a brand where only Indian [indiscernible]. Once again, thank you for giving this opportunity. I thank our secretary department, and I thank the entire second team for arranging this one of VC, they are seen in time to prepare a wonderful service product. Thank you for giving this opportunity. God bless you all.

Thank you, [indiscernible] And so far, you spoke on disinvestment. We are not -- we have not been told about any disinvestment other than the 3 lost steel plants, which are under disinvestment, that is the steel plant and the SL and the Ally steel plant, we -- which were approved for disinvestment, we have now -- we are not aware of any other disinvestment. We have not been told about any other disinvestment of steel plants.

My question is that if the government plans to do disinvestment SAIL also, how do you face this challenge, madam? That is my question, madam. If SAIL will be also disinvestment-ed, is the management and the entire employees was ready due to the privatization that is the question.

Actually, the decision would be the promoters and the promoter is naturally the government, major promoters, major stakeholders, major promoter would be the government. And I'm sure all this will be taken care and if at all. But as of now, I would not really say anything because we are not in the disinvestment right now. But when you spoke about I think any disinvestment, the government promoter does take care of all that.

Madam Chairman, any future fronts of experiencing in any other part of the country -- that is the last question.

See, any part right now, we have not really looked into any greenhouse greenfield product expansion right now, major expansion in greenfield board because our existing land banks are there for expansion. And our mines are closed to the existing land bank. So to do it in any other place where you, again, have a problem of -- I don't know, transportation is also a lot of cost. So since we already have land bank and land getting free land is also a major -- it's also a cost and also issues. So since we have existing land bank, first, we would like to take up with our existing land bank. And only when they are -- that is done then we may think of others. Right now, we have no plans. Thank you so much. Members who have not voted earlier through remote e-voting can now vote through electronic means in the next 15 minutes. And since there is no other business, I now request A. K. Tulsiani, Director of Finance, to propose the vote of thanks.

Thank you, ma'am. Dear shareholders, it is my proud privilege to propose a vote of thanks at the conclusion of the 50th Annual General Meeting of SAIL. On behalf of the company, I extend a hearty vote of thanks to all our stakeholders who stood by us in all times and everyone else who has contributed in making this a successful event. I'll begin by thanking the esteemed shareholders of the company. We value your gracious presence in this eAGM, and thank you for the continuing faith reportings. I also thank Ms. Neha Verma, Director, Ministry of Steel, who is attending this AGM through video conferencing as a nominee of the President of India. I also take this opportunity to thank our customers, vendors, suppliers, contractors, bankers and all others who have made it possible for the company to maintain its growth momentum amid the challenging business environment due to COVID-19, surge in crude oil prices, supply chain issues and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. On behalf of entire sale collective, I acknowledge and thank the government of India, state governments, other statutory authorities, our statutory auditors, CNAD auditors, cost auditors and secretary auditors for the guidance and collaborative and enduring support. I thank our Chairman, Ma'am Soma Mondal for welcoming us so warmly to this meeting and sharing her insights on the performance of the company and also her thoughts on the directions the company should pursue in the near future. We assure you, ma'am, that we will leave -- leave no stone unturned on achievement of the goal set for the company. I also take this opportunity to thank my colleagues on the Board for their valuable guidance and support. I deeply appreciate all our employees for the resilience, sincerity and dedication displayed at work by them, including the various departments associated in the successful organization of this AGM. I also thank our registrar and transfer agent, [indiscernible] MCS Share Transfer Agent Limited and [indiscernible] NSDL for providing e-voting and VC platform and others who have contributed to the success of this meeting. I conclude here with an assurance towards continuing with our best efforts. Thank you, stay safe and stay healthy. Thank you very much.

Thank you, Tulsiani. We shall now conclude our meeting. Thank you, everybody. Thank you.