Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited
Encyclopedia
Pig iron
Pig iron is the intermediate product of smelting iron ore with a high-carbon fuel such as coke, usually with limestone as a flux. Charcoal and anthracite have also been used as fuel...
and located in the city of Bhadravathi, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. It was started as the Mysore Iron Works on January 18, 1923 by Sir M Visvesvaraya. It is now a steel plant under the jurisdiction of the Steel Authority of India Limited
Steel Authority of India Limited
Steel Authority of India Limited from 116950 The company's current chairman is C.S Verma. With an annual production of 13.5 million metric tons, SAIL is the 14th largest steel producer in the world....
.
History
The Iron Works were started by Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the king of Mysore, under the guidance of his Diwan, Sir M Visvesvaraya. The main objective was to tap the rich iron ore deposits near Kemmanagundi in the Baba BudangiriBaba Budangiri
Dattagiri / Baba Budangiri is a mountain in the Dattagiri Hill Range / Baba Budan Giri Range of the Western Ghats of India...
hills and manufacture pig iron and other products. A preliminary investigation of setting up an iron and steel factory at Bhadravathi was done in 1915-1916. This investigation was done by a New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
based firm who explored the possibility of manufacturing pig iron with the use of charcoal
Charcoal
Charcoal is the dark grey residue consisting of carbon, and any remaining ash, obtained by removing water and other volatile constituents from animal and vegetation substances. Charcoal is usually produced by slow pyrolysis, the heating of wood or other substances in the absence of oxygen...
fuel. The years 1918-1922 were spent in setting up the factory. To start with, a wood distillation plant for manufacturing charcoal and blast furnace
Blast furnace
A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...
for smelting
Smelting
Smelting is a form of extractive metallurgy; its main use is to produce a metal from its ore. This includes iron extraction from iron ore, and copper extraction and other base metals from their ores...
iron were setup in the factory. Agencies were established in Madras, Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad
Ahmedabad also known as Karnavati is the largest city in Gujarat, India. It is the former capital of Gujarat and is also the judicial capital of Gujarat as the Gujarat High Court has its seat in Ahmedabad...
and Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
and a sales office was opened in Bombay. A cast iron
Cast iron
Cast iron is derived from pig iron, and while it usually refers to gray iron, it also identifies a large group of ferrous alloys which solidify with a eutectic. The color of a fractured surface can be used to identify an alloy. White cast iron is named after its white surface when fractured, due...
pipe plant, open hearth furnace, rolling mills and a cement
Cement
In the most general sense of the word, a cement is a binder, a substance that sets and hardens independently, and can bind other materials together. The word "cement" traces to the Romans, who used the term opus caementicium to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed...
plant were later added and the name of the factory was changed to The Mysore Iron and Steel Works. In 1939, the Shimoga-Talguppa railway line was laid, using wood from the Malnad
Malnad
Malenadu is a region of Karnataka state in South India. Malenadu covers the western and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats, roughly 100 kilometers in width. Malenadu covers portions of the Shimoga, Chikmagalur, Uttara Kannada, Kodagu and Hassan districts....
forests were transported to this plant, to be used as a fuel in its furnaces. In 1952, two electric pig-iron surfaces were installed in the company, thereby making VISL the first iron and steel company in India to use electricity in the smelting of iron ore. In 1962, the name was changed to The Mysore Iron and Steel Limted and the factory was converted into a Government company jointly owned by the Government of India
Government of India
The Government of India, officially known as the Union Government, and also known as the Central Government, was established by the Constitution of India, and is the governing authority of the union of 28 states and seven union territories, collectively called the Republic of India...
and the Government of Karnataka
Government of Karnataka
The Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers...
with an equity share ratio of 40:60 respectively. The year 1962 also saw the establishment of a new steel plant which could produce steel using the relatively new L D Process
Basic oxygen steelmaking
Basic oxygen steelmaking , also known as Linz-Donawitz-Verfahren steelmaking or the oxygen converter process is a method of primary steelmaking in which carbon-rich molten pig iron is made into steel. Blowing oxygen through molten pig iron lowers the carbon content of the alloy and changes it into...
. In order to honour its founder, the company was renamed as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited in 1975. In 1989, it was taken over by the Steel Authority of India as a subsidiary entity and in 1998, VISL was merged into SAIL.
Financials
In the initial years, pig-iron was the main product manufactured here and its production was increased from 4,817 tonnes in 1923 to 20,321 tonnes in 1935. But the increased production could not be turned into a profit-making business and except for the years 1928 and 1929, the company encountered losses during this period. However, the company recovered in the coming years, making a turnover of Rs. 173.13 lakhs and a profit of Rs. 32.21 lakhs in the year 1951. In 1962, the company had a sales turnover of Rs. 638.09 lakhs, earning a profit of Rs. 48.3 lakhs. However, by the year 1970, the company had run into losses, only to recover in the year 1972 to make a profit of Rs. 24.13 lakhs. Mounting losses made SAIL to think of disinvesting VISL and there was also a proposal that it could be taken over by the Indian Defence Ministry since it needed alloy steel, of which VISL was a major producer. However, it remained under SAIL control and encountered a turn around in November 2004 when it started making profits and it has continued to be profitable since then.Raw materials
For the first two years (1923-24), the iron ore required by the company was supplied from the limoniteLimonite
Limonite is an ore consisting in a mixture of hydrated iron oxide-hydroxide of varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO·nH2O, although this is not entirely accurate as limonite often contains a varying amount of oxide compared to hydroxide.Together with hematite, it has...
deposits at Chattanahalli near Kumsi
Kumsi
Kumsi is a village in the southern state of Karnataka, India. It is located in the Shimoga taluk of Shimoga district in Karnataka.-Demographics:As of 2001 India census, Kumsi had a population of 6042 with 3069 males and 2973 females.-External links:...
. From 1924 onwards, mining operations were started at Kemmanagundi and these yielded good quality of iron ore (58-60% iron content). Limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, which is used as a flux in the steel making process and dolomite
Dolomite
Dolomite is a carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate CaMg2. The term is also used to describe the sedimentary carbonate rock dolostone....
which is used as a refractory
Refractory
A refractory material is one that retains its strength at high temperatures. ASTM C71 defines refractories as "non-metallic materials having those chemical and physical properties that make them applicable for structures, or as components of systems, that are exposed to environments above...
material were mined from Bhadigunda mines, near Bhadravathi. Quartz
Quartz
Quartz is the second-most-abundant mineral in the Earth's continental crust, after feldspar. It is made up of a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon–oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall formula SiO2. There are many different varieties of quartz,...
, used in the manufacture of ferrosilicon
Ferrosilicon
Ferrosilicon, or ferrosilicium, is a ferroalloy, an alloy of iron and silicon with between 15% and 90% silicon. It contains a high proportion of iron silicides. Its melting point is about 1200 °C to 1250 °C with a boiling point of 2355 °C...
and pig iron was mined from Bilikalbetta mines, fire clay
Fire clay
Fire clay is a term applied to a range of refractory clays used in the manufacture of ceramics, especially fire brick.High grade fire clays can withstand temperatures of 1775°C , but to be referred to as a "fire clay" the material must withstand a minimum temperature of 1515°C...
used in the manufacture of refractories was mined at Shankaragudda hills and black clay
Black clay
Barro negro pottery is a style of pottery from Oaxaca, Mexico distinguished by its color, sheen and unique designs. Oaxaca is one of few Mexican states which is characterized by the continuance of its ancestral crafts, which are still used in everyday life...
used in the manufacture of cement was mined from Umblebylu fields near Bhadravathi.and Chikkanayakanahalli
Drawbacks
On Jul 31, 2003, nine workers in the factory died due to a blast which occurred when leaking water accidentally got mixed with hot molten steel. This raised a question mark on the safety measures employed in the firm. It is also alleged that despite employing pollution treatment plants, the effluents discharged from the company is polluting the Bhadra riverBhadra River
The Bhadra River is a river in Karnataka state in southern India.The Bhadra originates at Gangamoola near Kudremukha, Western Ghats range, and flows east across the southern part of Deccan Plateau, joined by its tributaries the Somavahini near Hebbe, Thadabehalla, and Odirayanahalla. It flows...
.