Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) is exploring possibilities to set up a steel processing unit in the state.

The chairman and managing director of the Navratna company, A.P. Choudhary, said: “We are exploring the possibility of setting up a steel rolling mill in Bihar. It is still in the initial stage so I cannot say much on this.”

Choudhary added that if everything went as planned, the unit would be set up in and around Patna with an estimated investment of Rs 200 crore. The billet would be brought to the plant from the company’s main plant in Visakhapatnam and iron bars would be made from it, he said.

Choudhary, a resident of Jarua village of Vaishali district, was in the city on Monday to review the marketing performance of RINL and its business expansion plan in the state.

Stating that things are moving good on infrastructure front in Bihar, Choudhary said that the company intended to appoint 70 additional dealers in the current fiscal in addition to existing 30 dealers. The number of dealers increased to more than double in just one year, he said, adding that there were just 14 dealers in 2011-12 which went up to 30 by the end of last financial year. “We have decided to expand our business in Bihar as there is a growing need of infrastructure development in the state. The growth in retail and project sales grew by 53 per cent and 13 per cent, respectively, in Bihar,” he said.

Products of RINL, popularly known as Vizag Steel, are used in almost all major projects, including Kanti Bijli Utpadan Nigam plants in Muzaffarpur, AIIMS-Patna, construction of Assembly annexe building, Bihar Rajya Pul Nirman Nigam Ltd, L&T, IRCON among others, he said. He also met Madhuresh Kumar, the East Central Railway general manager, in Patna and discussed various ongoing and upcoming railway projects.

Choudhary, who topped the mechanical branch of Muzaffarpur Institute of Technology in 1976, said the company was also having talks with Jharkhand government to set up its second steel plant there. “If Jharkhand gives us iron ore reserve, then we will set up a steel plant in the state. We will take half of the ore to our Vizag plant and half will be used for the Jharkhand one. If the state government agrees, we will set up a 2.5 to 3MTPA steel plant in Jharkhand,” he said. The company is expecting to get licence to mine Ghatkuri iron ore block as it has been earmarked for PSUs by the Supreme Court, he said.