The Rashtirya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL), the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), has issued the second notification on the Voluntary Retirement Scheme, as part of its objective of rationalising manpower, achieving optimum human resource utilisation, cost reduction and improved productivity.
As per a circular, employees who have completed at least 15 years of service in the RINL and have attained the age of 45 are eligible to apply for the VRS-2 in online mode by July 15. The window for the withdrawal of applications will remain open until July 18.
“At least 700 employees, some of them rejected in the VRS-1 process, have applied for VRS-2. Many of them do not want to work in the current condition of the plant. In the VRS-1 process, applications of about 400 employees were rejected,” said an RINL-VSP official, on the condition of anonymity.
According to sources, when the strategic sale of the steel plant was announced by the Centre in the 2020-21 financial year, there were about 17,000 regular employees and 15,000 contract employees, totalling 32,000.
By March 2025, the total regular employees of the plant were 12,116, of which 3851 were executive and 8265 were non-executive.
As on August, 2025, the total regular employees will be 10,267. These will include 3,083 (J-0 to E-9 grade) executives. There will be no employees in the grades E-0 and E-9. Similarly, the number of non-executive employees will be 7,184 (S-1 to S-11). There will be only two employees in the grade S-1.
Therefore, the number of total regular employees will come down from 12,116 in March to 10,267 in August. The number of employees who have left the plant is 1,849, including 1,100 VRS-1 confirmed staff.
Apart from this, at least 50 to 100 employees superannuate every month. In August 2025, a total of 92 employees, including 37 executives and 55 non-executives, will retire. From August 2025 to June 2026, a total of 764 employees, including 202 executives and 562 non-executives, will retire. In June 2026, a total of 125 employees will retire.
At least 12 to 15 young employees have resigned in the last one year. Around 350 executives and more than 300 non-executives resigned. Pending salaries, delayed promotions, curtailing house rent and perks, no wage revision and increased workload were the major reasons for the mass resignations of the young staff, sources said.
Published – June 20, 2025 08:44 am IST