Salboni

Salboni
Town
Salboni Location in West Bengal, India
Coordinates: 22°38′N 87°11′E / 22.63°N 87.19°E / 22.63; 87.19Coordinates: 22°38′N 87°11′E / 22.63°N 87.19°E / 22.63; 87.19
Country	India
State	West Bengal
District	Paschim Medinipur
Elevation	25 m (82 ft)
Languages
• Official	Bengali, English
Time zone	IST (UTC+5:30)
PIN	721132
Telephone code	03227
Vehicle registration	WB
Lok Sabha constituency	Jhargram
Vidhan Sabha constituency	Salboni
Website	www.salboni.co.in

Salboni (also written as Salbani) is a town with a police station in Medinipur Sadar subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the location of a Reserve Bank of India currency printing press, and was the proposed site of Jindal steel plant but on founding no sources of sufficient amount of water it has been converted into cement factory

History

During World War II Salboni was the site of an air base of the Royal Air Force, then named RAF Salbani.^[1][2]

Geography

Salboni is located at 22°36′N 87°11′E / 22.6°N 87.19°E / 22.6; 87.19.^[3] It has an average elevation of 25 metres (85 feet). It is on NH 60.

Demographics

As per 2011 census, Salboni CD Block had a population of 173,193, out of which 89,247 were males and 83,946 were females. Growth of population in the 2001-2011 decade was 14.75 per cent.^[4]

Economy

Proposed cement plant

Sajjan Jindal's JSW Group is going to make a fresh attempt to kick off the stalled projects at Salboni in Bengal with the proposal of a cement plant.

The $11-billion group has suggested building a 2.5-million-tonne slag-based unit at an investment of Rs 500 crore after it failed to build a steel and power plant over the last decade.

If everything goes according to the plan, the Mumbai-based conglomerate may start the project next year. The Salboni project was officially put on hold in December 2014.

However, the new proposal would be a pale shadow of the original plan hatched by JSW in 2006 when it signed an agreement with the Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee-government to invest Rs 35,000 crore in a 10-million-tonne steel and a 1,680MW power plant.

The plan then had also included a cement unit to utilise the slag generated from the blast furnace of the steel plant.

But now the cart will be put up before the horse as the cement plant will come up ahead of steel and power. "We want the ball rolling at Salboni. The cement project will create an atmosphere of excitement in that area," Biswadip Gupta, a senior executive at JSW who is looking after the company's interest in Bengal for years, said.

Jindal had put the steel project on hold after a series of clampdown on iron ore mining by the Supreme Court queered the availability of the raw material in Bengal, which has no deposit of the metal.

The power projects then fell through when the apex court scrapped allocations of three Bengal coal mines last year along with 200 more in the country.

JSW, the largest private producer of steel in India, says there will be no problem sourcing key raw materials, slag and clinker (a derivative of limestone), for the cement unit.

Pankaj Kulkarni, director of JSW Cement, said the plant would source slag from ISP at Burnpur or Tata Steel Jamshedpur, which is only 120 km away from this West Midnapur town.

"We will import clinker from Thailand or China through Haldia port and haul it by rail," Kulkarni added.

Initially JSW Cement, which has three units in the south (Nandiyal in Andhra Pradesh, Vijaynagar in Karnataka) and west (Dolvi) with a combined capacity of 6 million tonnes, had considered a port-based plant and apparently looked at 3-4 locations for Bengal operations before zeroing in on Salboni, 155 km from Calcutta, where it has around 4,000 acres in possession.

Jindal will use only a fraction of the precious land parcel, one of the largest among any private player, for the cement plant. It will require 135 acres, or around 3.5 per cent of the land parcel held from 2008.

JSW Cement has applied with the state government, seeking to "assign" the plot to JSW Cement from the existing company so that it can raise a loan against it. Gupta said the plant and machinery had been ordered from KHD of Germany.

Around 1,000-1,200 people will be required for construction. Once the plant comes to production around 2018, the company will employ about 200 people. Even though it will be good news for the region, a hotbed for Maoist trouble a few years back, the employment opportunity, direct and indirect, will be only a fraction of a steel plant.

For the industry-starved Mamata Banerjee government, the truncated Jindal proposal will be a shot in the arm ahead of the general elections next year which she is widely expected to win with ease. Mamata had urged Sajjan Jindal at the Mumbai investors' meet in August 2013 to "do something" at Salboni and not to keep the land vacant.

In December last year, the Jindals gave up 294 acres bought directly from owners at the request of the Banerjee government soon after the steel and power project was officially put on hold. The move was widely seen as an attempt to assuage frustration at the local level for the delay in the project. For JSW, it was an insurance against a Singur-like situation and passport to keep the rest of the land idle for some more time.

The Mamata Banerjee government had snatched 997 acres meant for the Nano factory from Tata Motors which left the land idle for three years in May 2011. The Tatas shifted the near-ready plant to Sanand in Gujarat in October 2008 after facing violent agitation against land acquisition.

East on radar

JSW seems to be keen to make a beginning with the cement plant, fuelled by its ambition to become a national player in this sector and an opportunity in the eastern region, especially Bengal. "It is an important market and a growing one," Kulkarni said, adding demand may touch 14 million tonnes in this state alone, while Bihar and Jharkhand can add an equal amount.

Industry observers sounded upbeat about better volume from the eastern region in the future. "If infrastructure projects get going, demand will improve. Manufacturers have east on their radar for expansion," said a source.

ACC and Emami have long evinced their interest in setting up cement plants in Bengal. Reliance Cement is also scouting for opportunities to expand. OCL Cement, a flagship of Dalmia Cement, also has a unit near Salboni

The first phase of the steel project will need an investment of Rs. 15,000 crore that would include a 3-million tonne steel plant, a 600 MW captive power plant, an independent 1,000 MW power plant, development of coal mines and a berth in the Haldia port. The next two phases will need investment of Rs. 10,000 crore each to enhance steel production to 10 million tonnes. It will provide direct and indirect employment totalling 10,000.^[5][6]

BRBNMPL Note Press

BRBNMPL (Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Pvt. Ltd.) was established by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as its wholly owned subsidiary on 3 February 1995 with a view to augmenting the production of bank notes in India to enable the RBI to bridge the gap between the supply and demand for bank notes in the country. The BRBNMPL has been registered as a Private Limited Company under the Companies Act 1956 with its Registered and Corporate Office situated at Bangalore. A press has been set up in the outskirts of Salboni Town. This is one of the four note presses all over India. Two under Security Printing and Minting Coroporation of India Limited (Central Govt)at Nashik, Maharashtra and Dewas, Madhya Pradesh. Two under RBI subsidiary BRBNMPL at Mysore, Karnataka and Salboni, West Bengal. A township with high security has been set up around the note press at Salboni as well as in Mysore.

Company Profile

Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited (BRBNMPL) was established by Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as its wholly owned subsidiary on 3 February 1995 with a view to augmenting the production of bank notes in India to enable the RBI to bridge the gap between the supply and demand for bank notes in the country. The BRBNMPL has been registered as a Private Limited Company under the Companies Act 1956 with its Registered and Corporate Office situated at Bangalore. The company manages 2 Presses one at Mysore in Karnataka and the other at Salboni in West Bengal. The present capacity for both the presses is 16 billion note pieces per year on a 2-shift basis.

The Board of Directors headed by a non Executive Chairman nominated by Reserve Bank of India oversees the overall affairs of the Company. The Managing Director is the whole time Chief Executive of the Company and is also a member of the Board. The members of the Board of Directors are persons of high eminence drawn from various professional fields. The Managing Director is assisted by a team of senior officers in the Corporate Office and two presses at Mysore and Salboni.

Both the presses have installed the latest "state of the art" Technology in bank note printing. The machinery at Mysore Site has been supplied by M/s. De La Rue Giori, now KBA Giori, Switzerland and that of Salboni by M/s. Komori Corporation, Japan. Both the presses are equipped with sophisticated Security Surveillance Systems. The Corporate mission of the Company is to produce bank notes conforming to international standards set by Central Banking and monetary authorities of the world and makes them available in adequate quantities to the Reserve Bank of India at competitive prices. BRBNMPL seeks to achieve this mission through its most valued asset, its people. It has also gone in for extensive automation and the Enterprise Resource Planning. The BRBNMPL has already put in place an effective Quality Management System as embodied in the ISO 9001 - 2008 and also environmental management systems and has also been certified as ISO 9001 : 2008 and ISO 14001: 2004 Company.

History of BRBNMPL

The bank note printing in India started in 1928 with the establishment of India Security Press at Nashik by Government of India. Until the commissioning of Nashik Press the Indian Currency Notes were got printed from Thomas De La Rue Giori of United Kingdom. The second bank note printing press was established in Dewas (Madhya Pradesh) in 1975 by Government of India. With the growth in population and economic activity, the demand for bank notes has been steadily increasing. To bridge the demand and supply gap, the Government of India decided to establish two new bank note printing presses one at Mysore (Karnataka) and the other at Salboni (West Bengal)

The New Note Press Project for setting up two new bank note printing presses was initiated by Government of India. However, the project was transferred to Reserve Bank of India(RBI), in December 1989. RBI formed a wholly owned subsidiary Bharatiya Reserve Bank Note Mudran Private Limited to Complete the project and finally manage the affairs of the two presses. The BRBNMPL was incorporated as a Private Limited Company on 3 February 1995. By virtue of the provisions of 43 A of the companies Act, 1956 the Company became a deemed Public Limited Company from 5 March 1997. Consequent to amendment of sec 43A in Company's (Amendment) Act 2000, the Company again became a Private Limited Company w.e.f. 24th Feb 2002.

Considering the magnitude of the project, the Company decided to establish the presses in two phases viz, Phase I for establishing a Mini Press with a single production line at each site which would be used as a testing ground for the new work methods and train the personnel for efficient running of the Phase II machines. The Phase II involved establishment of the Main Presses with 7 lines of production in Mysore and 8 lines of production in Salboni. The phase I was operationalised at Mysore and Salboni in June and December 1996 respectively. During 1998-99, the Mini Press machinery at both the sites after testing the work methods and the performance the machines was shifted to the Main Press. While all the seven lines of production at Mysore went on stream on 12 May 1999, the Salboni Press was inaugurated on 12 February 2000.

Vision

"To emerge as a Global Leader in pursuit of excellence providing the best in Design, printing, services and supply of banknotes and other security documents."

Mission

BRBNMPL will operate in Indian and global market catering to security document needs of Central banks and monetary authorities of the world by designing, printing and supplying banknotes and other security documents, using state-of-the-art technology, adopting world-class practises in people and process management and deploying highly reliable systems for product security and confidentiality, in order to maximise economy, efficiency, effectiveness to the satisfaction of all stake-holders, and with a deep sense of caring for the society and a proactive concern for environment as a responsible Corporate Citizen.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Salboni.

• Jindal Steel website