ET reported that the raw material insecurity of leading steel maker RINL would be resolved soon as government has approved making Orissa Mineral Development Corporation a subsidiary of the PSU.

Mr PK Rastogi Union Steel secretary said that "As part of the financial reengineering of the Bird Group of Companies, which includes OMDC, BSLC, EIL, SSL and KDCL, we plan to make them the subsidiaries of RINL."

Currently, the India government's share holding in the Bird Group of companies that deal in iron, steel and manganese businesses is in the range of 14% to 50%.

Mr Rastogi said that IFCI, the consultant appointed to assess the viability of financial re-structuring of the companies under administrative control of Steel Ministry has approved it.

He said that "We will restructure the companies in such a way that RINL will have a majority stake in them," adding that the proposal would be soon sent to the Ministry of Finance and the Cabinet for final nod.

Mr Rastogi said that the companies would stand to gain from the PSU status and professional management of RINL, while the latter would have raw material security to carry out its Brownfield expansion.

Mr PK Bishnoi chairman & MD of RINL said that it would be a win-win preposition for all. He said that "With our expertise and resources, we would be able to add facilities at OMDC and in return get valuable iron ore and manganese for steel making."

However, among the 5 active companies of the Bird Group, OMDC is the biggest with an annual turnover of about INR 6,000 crore and total employees numbering 1,200. It possesses iron ore resources of about 200 million tonne, which would suffice the need of RINL for about 15 years. Currently, the steel major procures over 6 million tonnes of iron ore, a vital raw material for making steel, from state owned miner NMDC.