Bhubaneswar: Struggling to cope with the raw material crisis and mounting operational loss, the Odisha government owned IDCOL Kalinga Iron works Ltd (IKIWL) has been closed indefinitely since the 28th of last month.
The plant produces 1.66 lakh tonnes of foundry grade Pig iron and 24,000 tonnes of cast iron spun pipes in a year. The Pig iron division was started in 1963, while the cast iron division was installed in 1985.
It has captive mines for both Iron and Manganese ores. However, owing to mounting losses and raw material scarcity, Odisha government last year indicated that it is in talks with SAIL to sell its entire stake in the company. Subsequently, SAIL had signed an MoU with IDCOL and had taken an initiative to evaluate the assets of the plant. KIWL is a fully owned subsidiary of IDCOL, which is fully owned by Odisha government. Earlier, the Barbil based plant was closed twice from June 2013 for 9 months and from February 2014 for 8 months.
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