He was briefing a team of Calcutta-based reporters brought here to attend the inauguration of Usha Martin Academy of Communication Technology (UACT), a joint venture between the Usha Martin group and the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras.

The company is also proposing to secure a term-loan of Rs 134 crore from the financial institutions (FI) and for that shareholders' approval will be sought at its annual general meeting to be held on 25th of this month in Calcutta. Jhawar said the roadshow for the GDR will be held in London by August end and it will be listed on the Luxembourg Stock Exchange.

Although he did not confirm the amount the company seeks to mobilise through the GDR, sources said it would be between Rs 65 crore and Rs 100 crore.

About the term loan, he said talks are on with a number of FIs and banks including ICICI, Industrial Development Bank of India and Bank of India.The company is planning to concentrate more on making special steels. Out of the 3,40,000 tonnes of finished steel produced by its plant at Adityapur near Jamshedpur in Bihar, around 1,25,000 tonnes will be special steels.

UBL has changed its accounting year from fiscal to calendar year ending December 31. It has set a sales turnover target of Rs 800 crore for the current year and expects to increase it to Rs 1,200 crore in 2001 and further to Rs 1,500 crore in 2002. The company has already commissioned a 25mw captive power plant at Adityapur. Jhawar said the plant is already generating at more than 70 per cent plant load factor (PLF) and the plant managers expect to achieve maximum possible PLF shortly. "This will reduce our dependence on Bihar State Electricity Board considerably and the steel unit at Adityapur will thus be able to save Rs 12 to 15 crore per annum," he added.