The government wants the state-owned Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) to partner South Korean steel giant, Posco in its proposed $12-billion steel plant in the Indian state of Orissa.

Mr Beni Prasad Verma, the Steel Minister informed Posco officials here on Wednesday that it wants SAIL to become a part of the project, which has faced severe hurdles and delays. Y. W. Yoon, Chairman and MD, Posco India Pvt Ltd has said that he will convey the government's intention to the board of Posco.

Despite 20% jump in sales, high material costs have dipped the Q1 net profits of Steel Authority of India Ltd. (SAIL) by 29 per cent to Rs. 838 crore. In a statement recently, SAIL also said that the company earned a net profit of Rs. 1,177 crore in the same quarter last fiscal.

In its statement, the company also highlighted that during the quarter only, the company had spent an additional expenditure of nearly Rs. 580 crore on cost of coal. Out of which, Rs. 422 crore was spent on higher cost of imported coking coal.

Steel Minister Beni Prasad Verma has been dissatisfied with the Steel Authority of India’s (SAIL) organization of the modernization programme.

SAIL has been working on its West Bengals, 3 mt Greenfield Plant at Burnpur and the work has already been delayed by 6 months along with the increase in cost from Rs. 14,443 crore to Rs. 16,408 crore.

Technical analyst Jai Bala of cashthechaos. com has maintained 'buy' rating on Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) stock to attain an intraday target of Rs 172.

According to analyst, the investors can buy the stock with trailing stop loss of Rs 165.

The stock of the company, on April 27, closed at Rs 167.30 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 13.22 and 12.49 respectively.

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 234.10 and a low of Rs 152.50 on BSE.

SAIL is all set to bank on the domestic consumption of steel primarily driven by the ongoing infrastructure development in the country, with its ambitious expansion plans, which will increase its crude steel capacity to 23.2mt by 2013 from 14mt currently.

SAIL is banking on the robust demand witnessed for finished and premium steel segment by expanding its value added steelmaking capacity. The value added or premium segment commands 20-25% premium over semi-finished or crude steel

Technical analyst Rakesh Bansal of New Age Wealth is bullish on Stee Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and has maintained 'buy' rating on the stock.

According to the analyst, the interested investors can buy the stock with a target of Rs 168 till expiry.

Mr. Bansal said that the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 154.

The stock of the company, on March 21, closed at Rs 159.35 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 258.55 and a low of Rs 152.50 on BSE.

Technical analyst Nishant Jain of Tradeswift Broking is bullish on Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) and has maintained 'buy' rating on the stock with an intra-day target of Rs 163.

According to Nishant Jain, the stock can be purchased with a stop loss of Rs 155.

The stock of the company, on March 17, closed at Rs 158.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 258.55 and a low of Rs 152.50 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 13.22 and 12.25 respectively.

According to recent media reports, Steel Authority of India (SAIL) will now target rural India more. According to reports, company is looking to grow its business in rural India. For this company has plans of launching at least two dealers in all districts across India. Like a veteran retailer, company is planning small and customized lots.

Technical analyst Salil Sharma maintained 'buy' rating on Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) stock to attain a target of Rs 184.

According to analyst, the investors can buy the stock with a stop loss of Rs 156.

The stock of the company, on Feb 03, closed at Rs 164.40 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 258.55 and a low of Rs 157 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 13.22 and 12.27 respectively.

Raw material cost woes continue; EBITDA/t at new low

In Q3FY11, SAIL's revenues grew 15% YoY to Rs115.1bn on higher volume (up 11% YoY) and improved realisations (4% YoY rise). However, EBITDA declined 30% YoY to Rs18.0bn on higher raw material, employee and power cost. Consequently, EBITDA/t declined to a 2-yr low (and ~6-yr low excl. Dec'08 qtr) to Rs5,517. PAT declined 34% YoY to Rs11.1bn despite lower interest expense and fall in effective tax rate (32.0% vs 33.9%).

Technical analyst Rakesh Bansal of New Age Wealth has maintained 'sell' rating on Steel Authority of India Limited stock with a target that lies between Rs 144-140.

According to analyst, the investors can sell the stock with a stop loss of Rs 178

Mr. Bansal added that it is better to sell the stock at this time as it looks weak.

He also said that the interested investors can buy the stock again on declines for medium or long term.

Today, the stock of the company opened at Rs 167.25 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Technical analyst Rajesh Agarwal of Eastern Financiers Ltd has maintained 'buy' rating on Steel Authority of India Limited stock.

The analyst said that the investors can buy the stock on dips of 5%.

The analyst added that the investors can hold the stock for a period of 6 to 12 months

The stock of the company, on January 11, closed at Rs 175.55 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 258.55 and a low of Rs 170.70 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 14.59 and 11.97 respectively.

Ranked amongst the top ten public sector companies in India in terms of turnover, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a fully integrated iron and steel maker, producing both basic and special steels for domestic construction, engineering, power, railway, automotive and defence industries and for sale in export markets.

Technical analyst Salil Sharma has maintained 'buy' rating on Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) stock with a target of Rs 186.

According to analyst, the investors can hold the stock with a stop loss of Rs 177.

The stock of the company, on December 01, closed at Rs 181.05 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 258.55 and a low of Rs 170.70 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 14.59 and 12.56 respectively.

Technical analyst Salil Sharma has maintained 'sell' rating on Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) stock with a target of Rs 185.

According to analyst, the investors can sell the stock with a stop loss of Rs 194.

Today, the stock of the company opened at Rs 191 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 258.55 and a low of Rs 180 on BSE.

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 14.59 and 12.68 respectively.

Technical analyst Somil Mehta of Sharekhan has maintained 'sell' rating on Steel Authority of India Limited stock with stop loss of Rs 202.

According to analyst, the investors can sell the stock with a target of Rs 185.

Mr. Mehta said that it is fruitful to sell the stock in today's session as there are full chances of decline.

After selling the stock today, the interested investors can purchase the stock again for medium or long term target.

Today, the stock of the company opened at Rs 195 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Stock market analyst Somil Mehta of Sharekhan has maintained 'buy' rating on Steel Authority Of India Limited stock to achieve a target of Rs 210.

According to analyst, the interested investors can buy the stock with strict stop loss of Rs 194.

The stock of the company, on Nov 09, closed at Rs 199.65 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Current EPS & P/E ratio stood at 14.59 and 13.64 respectively.

The share price has seen a 52-week high of Rs 258.55 and a low of Rs 168.90 on BSE.

On Saturday, Union railway minister Mamta Banerjee announced that SAIL has been invited by the railways to build a new factory. She announced the new proposal at a function, which was organized to inaugurate a joint venture between SAIL and Railways in Kulti.

This joint venture is for a wagon making unit. The new proposal is to build a new factory, which will build freight bogies.

In Q2FY11, SAIL's revenues grew 8% YoY to Rs109.6bn on improved realisations (up 7% YoY). However, EBITDA declined 29% YoY to Rs16.9bn mainly on account of higher imported coal cost. EBITDA/tonne declined to a 7-qtr low of Rs5,593. PAT declined 35% YoY to Rs10.9bn.

Carry over of high cost coal (@USD305/t) drag on profitability: SAIL consumed 0.68mnt of carry-over coal in Q2 (~1.0mnt in Q1), which led to higher coal cost and CoP at Rs30,582/t (up 18% YoY)

Capex update: SAIL incurred Rs28.1bn in Q2FY11 towards their planned capex of Rs700bn of which Rs123bn is lined up in FY11.

According to the Disinvestment Secretary Mr. Sumit Bose, the government will go for a flexible plan towards opting for the anchor investor route for the huge public issues of Shipping Corporation, SAIL, Hindustan Copper and Power Grid.

Mr. Bose said in a statement on Monday that the SEBI had given them the option to include anchor investors and he also said that they would keep the option opened till the very last minute just like in the case of CII.