Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISL), a unit of Steel Authority of India Limited, is a plant involved in the production of

alloy steel Alloy steel is steel that is alloyed with a variety of elements in total amounts between 1.0% and 50% by weight to improve its mechanical properties. Alloy steels are broken down into two groups: low alloy steels and high alloy steels. The differe ...

s and

pig iron Pig iron, also known as crude iron, is an intermediate product of the iron industry in the production of steel which is obtained by smelting iron ore in a blast furnace. Pig iron has a high carbon content, typically 3.8–4.7%, along with silic ...

. It is located in the city of Bhadravathi,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. It was started as the ''Mysore Iron Works'' on 18 January 1923 by

Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar Maharaja Krishnaraja Wadiyar IV (Nalwadi Krishnaraja Wadiyar; 4 June 1884 – 3 August 1940) was the twenty-fourth maharaja of the Kingdom of Mysore, from 1902 until his death in 1940. He is popularly called ''Rajarshi'' ( sa, rājarṣi, lit ...

and his Diwan

Sir M V Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya (15 September 1861 – 12/14 April 1962), also referred to by his initials, MV, was an Indian civil engineer, administrator, and statesman, who served as the 19th Diwan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918. Visvesvaraya i ...

isvesvaraya. It is now a steel plant under the jurisdiction of the

Steel Authority of India Limited Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is a central public sector undertaking based in New Delhi, India. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Steel, Government of India with an annual turnover of INR 1,03,480 Crore (US$13 billion) for fisc ...

History

The Iron Works were started by

, the king of

Mysore Mysore (), officially Mysuru (), is a city in the southern part of the state of Karnataka, India. Mysore city is geographically located between 12° 18′ 26″ north latitude and 76° 38′ 59″ east longitude. It is located at an altitude of ...

, under the guidance of his Diwan,

isvesvaraya. The main objective was to tap the rich

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

deposits near

Kemmanagundi Kemmannugundi (Red Soil Pit) is a hill station in Tarikere taluk of Chikkamagaluru district in the state of Karnataka, India. It is at the elevation of 1434m above sea level, with its peak at 1863m. This was the summer retreat of Krishnaraja Wo ...

in the

Baba Budangiri Baba Budangiri (), also known as Chandradrona (, as the range naturally forms the shape of a crescent moon), is a hill and mountain range in the Western Ghats of India, located in the Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka. The main peaks in th ...

hills and manufacture pig iron and other products.H. Chittaranjan (2005), p148 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 most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

based firm who explored the possibility of manufacturing pig iron with the use of

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

fuel.K. Abhishankar (1975), p186 The years 1918-1922 were spent in setting up the factory. To start with, a wood distillation plant for manufacturing charcoal and

blast furnace A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally pig iron, but also others such as lead or copper. ''Blast'' refers to the combustion air being "forced" or supplied above atmospheric ...

for

smelting Smelting is a process of applying heat to ore, to extract a base metal. It is a form of extractive metallurgy. It is used to extract many metals from their ores, including silver, iron, copper, and other base metals. Smelting uses heat and a ch ...

iron were set up in the factory. Agencies were established in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Ahmedabad Ahmedabad ( ; Gujarati: Amdavad ) is the most populous city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of the Ahmedabad district and the seat of the Gujarat High Court. Ahmedabad's population of 5,570,585 (per t ...

and

Karachi Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former cap ...

and a sales office was opened in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

.K. Abhishankar(1975), p187 A

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron–carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuriti ...

pipe plant, open hearth furnace,

rolling mill In metalworking, rolling is a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through one or more pairs of rolls to reduce the thickness, to make the thickness uniform, and/or to impart a desired mechanical property. The concept is simil ...

s and a

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

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 Mysore State Railway (MSR) was a railway which operated in Mysore state, India. MSR became a part of Southern Railway on 14 April 1951. History In 1879, the Madras Railway Company Constructed a railway line from Madras Royapuram to Bangalor ...

was laid, using wood from the

Malnad Malnad (; Malēnādu) is a region in the state of Karnataka in India. Malenadu covers the western and eastern slopes of the Western Ghats or Sahyadri mountain range, and is roughly 100 kilometers in width. Malnadis a region of Karnataka ...

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.K. Abhishankar (1975), p188 In 1962, the name was changed to ''The Mysore Iron and Steel Limited'' and the factory was converted into a Government company jointly owned by the

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

and the

Government of Karnataka The Government of Karnataka, abbreviated as, GoK, or simply Karnataka Government, is a democratically-elected state body with the governor as the ceremonial head to govern the Southwest Indian state of Karnataka. The governor who is appointed ...

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. 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

, 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 and has been incurring losses . The losses are in crores for each year

Raw materials

For the first two years (1923–24), the iron ore required by the company was supplied from the

limonite Limonite () is an iron ore consisting of a mixture of hydrated iron(III) oxide-hydroxides in varying composition. The generic formula is frequently written as FeO(OH)·H2O, although this is not entirely accurate as the ratio of oxide to hydroxid ...

deposits at Chattanahalli near Kumsi.K. Abhishankar (1975), p181 From 1924 onwards, mining operations were started at

and these yielded good quality of iron ore (58-60% iron content).

Limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, which is used as a flux in the steel making process and

dolomite Dolomite may refer to: *Dolomite (mineral), a carbonate mineral *Dolomite (rock), also known as dolostone, a sedimentary carbonate rock *Dolomite, Alabama, United States, an unincorporated community *Dolomite, California, United States, an unincor ...

which is used as a

refractory In materials science, a refractory material or refractory is a material that is resistant to decomposition by heat, pressure, or chemical attack, and retains strength and form at high temperatures. Refractories are polycrystalline, polyphase, ...

material were mined from Bhadigunda mines, near Bhadravathi.

Quartz Quartz is a hard, crystalline mineral composed of silica (silicon dioxide). The atoms are linked in a continuous framework of SiO4 silicon-oxygen tetrahedra, with each oxygen being shared between two tetrahedra, giving an overall chemical form ...

, used in the manufacture of

ferrosilicon Ferrosilicon is an alloy of iron and silicon with a typical silicon content by weight of 15–90%. It contains a high proportion of iron silicides. Production and reactions Ferrosilicon is produced by reduction of silica or sand with coke in th ...

and pig iron was mined from Bilikalbetta mines,

fire clay Fire clay is a range of refractory clays used in the manufacture of ceramics, especially fire brick. The United States Environmental Protection Agency defines fire clay very generally as a "mineral aggregate composed of hydrous silicates of alumin ...

used in the manufacture of refractories was mined at Shankaragudda hills and black clay used in the manufacture of cement was mined from Umblebylu fields near Bhadravathi.

Concerns

On 31 July 2003, ten workers in the factory died due to a blast which occurred when leaking water accidentally got mixed with hot molten steel. This questioned the safety measures employed in the plant. It is also alleged that despite employing pollution treatment plants, the effluents discharged from the company is polluting the

Bhadra river The Bhadra River (Kannada: ಭದ್ರಾ ನದಿ) 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 ...

Reference

* * {{Steel industry of India Steel plants of India Companies based in Karnataka Manufacturing companies established in 1923 Steel Authority of India Indian companies established in 1923