1. (A GOVT. OF INDIA UNDERTAKING UNIT)<br /> SUMMER INTERNSHIP PROJECT<br />WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT <br />ON<br />BOKARO STEEL PLANT (BSL) <br /> SUBMITTED TO:- SUBMITTED BY:-<br /> SOURAV JOSI BIKRAM KUMAR TIWARY.<br /> MBA 3rd SEM<br /> <br /> <br /> ACKNOWLWLEDGEMENT<br />At the very outset, I wish to express my heartiest gratitude to all those who extended their help, guidance and Suggestion and without their help it was not possible for me to complete this Project Report.<br />I am deeply indebted to my guide Mr. R.B Sharma (Jr. Manager) (Accounts & administration), Mr. S. K. Roy (D M Finance & Accounts) for their valuable and enlightened guidance as well as freedom they had offered to me during the project work. I can’t forget the contribution and helped extended to me by Mr. Krishn Chand (Manager ), (Sales Tax & Excise) Mr. U. S. Bhasker (Dy. Manager ) & Mr. P. C. Mishra (Sr.Manager) (Operation Finance) .They ever prepared to feed Necessary information and guidance.<br />I can not forget the contribution and helped extended to me by Anurag Gupta (Sr.Manager,Main a/c) Jitendre Kumar (Dy.Manager) (Project Finance) D.Kumar (Dy.Manager) (P.F.section) Mrs Poonam (Dy.Manager) K.C.Gajrai (Jr.Manager) S.C.Shrivastav (Sr.Manager Raw Materials)<br />I am also obliged Dr.Masood Nasser(Dean of JSBS) Devraj Bagadu (H.O.D. of JSBS) department) & Dr.Ronald Mani who inspired to go ahead with fulfilling the project report and motivate to learn more about plant production process & accounting system of the plant.<br />I am also thank full to all the employee who provide the practical information about the production process, practical show the working criteria of the plant & those employee who give the lift to me at the time of plant visit because with out them I can’t visit the plant easily.<br /> BIKRAM KUMAR TIWARY<br /> MBA(2009-11)<br />CERTIFICATE<br />This is to certify that the project entitled “WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT” at BOKARO STEEL PLANT has been carried out by BIKRAM KUMAR TIWARY from 05th July to 14th August 2010 under my supervision in partial fulfillment of his MBA 2nd year at Uttarachal Institute of Management, Dehradun,(Uttarakhand Technical University), UTTARAKHAND.<br />I am satisfied with his sincere performance and study conducted by him in BOKARO STEEL PLANT.<br />I recommend to submit the project report. I wish him all success in life.<br />This is also certified that the project work is original and has not been submitted to any other place.<br />DATE:-14th August 2010 Mr. R.B. Sharma<br /> (Jr. Manager, F& A) <br /> Bokaro Steel Plant<br /> SAIL<br /> <br /> <br /> DECLARATION <br />I hereby declare that the following documented project report titled “Working Capital Management quot;
is an authentic work done by me as a part of my study on finance.<br />I also further state that the project has been prepared by my own with the secondary data provided in the reports of the company, which were essential for the completion of the project. The project was undertaken as a part of the course curriculum of MBA Uttaranchal Institute of Management,Dehradun. This has not been submitted to any other Examination body earlier. <br /> <br /> BIKRAM KUMAR TIWARY<br />INDEX<br /> Contents :- page no.<br />Executive summary 6 <br />Introduction <br /> Global Steel Scenario and Indian Steel Industry 7<br /> SAIL 11<br /> BSL 17<br />Review of literature 28<br />Research Methodology 31<br />Working Capital – Overall View <br /> Cash Management 32<br /> <br /> Inventory Management 34<br /> <br /> Receivable Management 36<br /> <br />Financial Statements and Ratio Analysis 44 <br />Flow chart of sales process followed in BSL 46<br />Conclusions 49<br />Suggestion 49<br />Bibliography` 50<br /> Executive Summary<br />Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is the leading steel making company in India. It is fully integrated iron and steel maker, producing both basic and special steel for domestic construction engineering, power, railway automotive and defense industries and for safe in export markets. Bokaro Steel Plant – The fourth integrated plant in the public sector taking shape in 1965 in collaboration with the Soviet Union.<br /> <br />It was originally incorporated as a limited company on 29thJanuary 1964, and was later merged with SAIL first as a subsidiary and then as a unit through the public sector iron & steel companies act1978. Working capital management is concerned with the problem that arises in attempting to manage the current assets, current liabilities and the interrelationship between them. Its operational goal is to manage the current assets and current liabilities in such a way that a satisfactory level of working capital is maintained.<br />The working capital ratio is calculated as: Positive working capital means that the company is able to pay off its short-term liabilities. Negative working capital means that a company currently is unable to meet its short-term liabilities with its current assets (cash, accounts receivable and inventory). Working capital also gives investors an idea of the company’s underlying operational efficiency. Money that is tied up in inventory or money that customers still owe to the company cannot be used to pay off any of the company’s obligations.<br />To measure efficiency we have used ratio analysis as a technique and the main ratio we have used are liquidity ratio and activities ratio. One more tool we have used is calculation of operating cycle which showsow effectively the firm is using its resources or how much time its take to convert its investment back into cash. By looking previous data we came to know BSL have done a great job in this field operating cycle by 30% in just three financial years.<br />global Steel Scenario and Indian Steel Industry<br />Introduction<br />Though evidences indicate that iron and steel have been used by for almost 6000 years, the modern form of iron and steel industry came into being only during the 19th century. The growth and development of Iron and Steel Industry in the world until the Second World War was comparatively slower. But the industry has grown very rapidly after the Second War was. World production of steel, which was only 28.3 million tones (MT) in 1900, rose to 695 MT by 1992. The oil crisis of the seventies affected the entire economy of the world including the steel industry. The position started improving after 1983 and peaked at 780 MT in 1989. It starred declining till 1994 (723MT), picked up again to 755.8 in 1995. The World Steel production is around 1132 MT in 2005, registering a growth of 6% over 2004.<br /> <br />Historical Background <br />The antiquity of man’s use of iron attested by references to that metal both in fragmentary writing & inscriptions that survived ancient civilization of Babylon, Mexico, Egypt, China, India, Greece & Rome. However, it is believed that most of the iron used by pre–historic people might have been obtained by fragment of meteorites and it remained a rare metal for many centuries.<br />For many years after man learned how to extract iron from its ores, the product probably was so relatively soft and unpredictable, that bronze continued to be preferred for many tools and weapons. Eventually iron replaced the non–ferrous metal for these purposes when man learned how to master the difficult arts of smelting, forging, hardening and tempering iron. Archeological findings in Mesopotamia and Egypt have proved that iron or steel has been in the service o mankind for nearly 6000 years. The origin of the methods used by early man for extracting iron from its ores is unknown. Some have suggested that many learned the method accidentally.<br /> <br /> <br /> Indian History<br />Indian history is also replete with references to the usage of iron and steel. Some of the ancient monuments like the famous iron pillar near New Delhi or the massive beams used in the Sun Temple at Konark bear ample testimony to the technological excellence of the Indian metallurgists.<br />The history of iron in India goes back to the ancient era. Our ancient literary sources like Rig Veda, the Atharva Veda, the Puranas and other Epics are full of references to iron and its uses in peace and war. According to one of the studies, iron has been produced in India for over 3000 years.<br />Outlook for the Indian Economy<br />After witnessing rapid strides during the years after the liberalization process was set in motion, India’s GDP grew at an average rate of 5.2 % during the period 1998–99 to 2002–03. However, there was a break from the trend in 2003–04, during which the economy is estimated to have grown at more than 8%. The economy of India, measured in USD exchange – rate terms, is the twelfth largest in the world, with a GDP of around $1 trillion (2008). It recorded a GDP growth rate of 9.0% for the fiscal year 2007 – 2008 which makes it the second fastest high emerging economy, after China, in the world. The economy is expected to continue on a high growth path with continued macroeconomic stability.<br />Over the years there has been a downward trend in interest rates accompanied by moderate inflation and adequate liquidity in economy. In April 2003, the Bank Rate was reduced to 6%, which was a 30 – years low. Commercial Banks have also resorted to sub–PLR lending. With sub PLR lending and reduction in maximum spread over PLR, lending rates have effective come down Infrastructure development has been a focus area for the Government in recent years. In the road and highway network, India is witnessing development of multiple–lane, safe and well designed interstate highways. Recently the Government has announced a planned outlay for the rural road and highway network development. The Golden Quadrilateral Project is an ambitious project that would connect the four major metros via state of the art highways. The East–West and North – South corridors would link up the remotest parts of the country. The Government is also planning to facilitate investments in seaports and airports in a major way.<br />Steel Demand Scenario<br />India’s steel production is likely to surpass the domestic requirement by 2011–12, easing pressure on prices of the alloy, which has been adding to the spiraling inflation.<br />“We shall achieve 124 million tons of steel capacity by 2011–12, well exceeding the requirement that would be to the tune of about 110 million tons at that point of time,” Steel Minister Paswan said.<br />Steel prices shot up by over 50 percent since January, adding to the woes of the UPA government, which is battling a seven–year high inflation of 8.75 percent in its last year. The annual demand for steel in India has been rising by about 13 per cent, but production is growing by over 6 percent, according to official sources. Last fiscal, the country’s crude steel production stood at 53.9 million tons, of which about 5 million tons were exported. To bridge the demand – supply mismatch, India had to import nearly 7 million tons of steel. Steel Secretary R S Pandey while endorsing India becoming a net steel importer from being a net exporter till a few years ago, said the trend is likely to continue for some time as increase in capacity takes at least three to four years.<br />As per official figures, country’s finished steel import went up by over 300 percent from 1.6 million tons in 2002–03 to nearly 7 million tons in 2007–08 (provisional). In view of the growing demand, the government plans to scale up steel production to over 290 million tons by 2020. It has also envisaged that the sector will see an investment of Rs. 8, 70,640crore by that time.<br />Going by an estimate of Rs. 4,000-crore outlay per million tones of additional capacity, an investment of Rs. 2, 76,000crore is likely to take place by 2012 and Rs. 8,70,000crore by 2020. As of now, both domestic and foreign steel players have signed 193 memoranda of understanding with states for setting up new units with a total planned capacity of around 243 million tons and a total proposed investment of over Rs. 5,14,000crore.<br />Private and public sector steel companies have also embarked on capacity expansion, Steel Authority of India Limited plans to take up its hot metal production to 26.13 million tons by 2010 from the present 12.84 million tons. Private steel majors including Tata, JSPL, ISPAT and JSW Steel have also lined up expansion of their existing production strength.<br /> <br />Satisfaction CustomerAspiration UnlimitedImprovement ContinualLeadership Market VISIONTo be a respected world class corporation and the leader in Indian steel business in quality, productivity, profitability and customer satisfaction.<br />CREDOWe build lasting relationships with customers based on trust and mutual benefit.We uphold highest ethical standards in conduct of our business.We create and nurture a culture that supports flexibility, learning and is proactive to change.We chart a challenging career for employees with opportunities for advancement and rewards.We value the opportunity and responsibility to make a meaningful difference in people's lives.<br />BACKGROUND & HISTORY<br />A Rich Heritage <br />The Precursor<br />SAIL traces its origin to the formative years of an emerging nation - India. After independence the builders of modern India worked with a vision - to lay the infrastructure for rapid industrialisaton of the country. The steel sector was to propel the economic growth. Hindustan Steel Private Limited was set up on January 19, 1954. The President of India held the shares of the company on behalf of the people of India.Expanding Horizon (1959-1973)<br />Hindustan Steel (HSL) was initially designed to manage only one plant that was coming up at Rourkela. For Bhilai and Durgapur Steel Plants, the preliminary work was done by the Iron and Steel Ministry. From April 1957, the supervision and control of these two steel plants were also transferred to Hindustan Steel. The registered office was originally in New Delhi. It moved to Calcutta in July 1956, and ultimately to Ranchi in December 1959.A new steel company, Bokaro Steel Limited, was incorporated in January 1964 to construct and operate the steel plant at Bokaro. The 1 MT phases of Bhilai and Rourkela Steel Plants were completed by the end of December 1961. The 1 MT phase of Durgapur Steel Plant was completed in January 1962 after commissioning of the Wheel and Axle plant. The crude steel production of HSL went up from .158 MT (1959-60) to 1.6 MT. The second phase of Bhilai Holding CompanyThe Ministry of Steel and Mines drafted a policy statement to evolve a new model for managing industry. The policy statement was presented to the Parliament on December 2, 1972. On this basis the concept of creating a holding company to manage inputs and outputs under one umbrella was mooted. This led to the formation of Steel Authority of India Ltd. The company, incorporated on January 24, 1973 with an authorized capital of Rs. 2000 crore, was made responsible for managing five integrated steel plants at Bhilai, Bokaro, Durgapur, Rourkela and Burnpur, the Alloy Steel Plant and the Salem Steel Plant. In 1978 SAIL was restructured as an operating company.Since its inception, SAIL has been instrumental in laying a sound infrastructure for the industrial development of the country. Besides, it has immensely contributed to the development of technical and managerial expertise. It has triggered the secondary and tertiary waves of economic growth by continuously providing the inputs for the consuming industry. <br />JOINT VENTURES<br />SAIL has promoted joint ventures in different areas ranging from power plant to e-commerce. The important joint ventures of the company, among others, are:-<br />COMPANY LOCATIONJV PARTNER EQUITYPROFILENTPC-SAIL Power Company Pvt. LtdNEW DELHINTPC50:50Operates & manages the captive power plants of durgapur, Rourkela & BhilaiBokaro Power supply company Pvt. LtdBOLARODVC50:50Manages 302MW power generation 660tonnes per hour steam generation facilities at Bokaro steel plant. M- Junction services Ltd.KOLKATATATA Steel50:50Promotes e-commerce activities in steel and related areas.SAIL & MOIL Ferro Alloys Pvt. Ltd.BHILAI MANGANESE ORE (INDIA) LIMITED50:50Production of ferro -manganese and silicon – Manganese at Bhilai with furnace operation at Nandini/ BhalaiBhilai jaypee cement limitedSANTNA & BHILAI Jaiparkash Associates Ltd.26:74To set up and operate a cement plant of 2.2 million tones per annum capacity at split location at satna & Bhilai , using slag generated during blast furnace .Bokaro jaypee cement Ltd.BOKAROJaiparkash Associates Ltd.26:74 To set up and operate a cement plant of 2.1 million tones per annum capacity, utilizing generated slag during Blast furnace operation at BSL.<br />MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDINGS<br />Larsen & Toubro Ltd.to set up, develop, manage and own captive/independent power plant (s) at suitable location/s to meet future power requirements of SAIL. The scope of agreement also includes exploration of opportunities to own captive thermal coal blocks to cater to the power plant requirements.Shipping corporation of India. to promote a Joint Venture Company, which shall primarily provide shipping related services to SAIL for imported coking coal and also participate in world wide dry bulk shipping trade.Government of Keralato increase production from the existing facilities at Steel Complex Limited (SCL), Calicut and also set up, develop & manage a 50,000 TMT Rolling Mill along with its balancing facilities and auxiliaries at SCL, Calicut.POSCOto collaborate in a wide range of strategic business and commercial areas of mutual interest.Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd. (RINL)to jointly explore and develop low silica limestone mines in the Sultanate of Oman.Mineral Exploration Corporation Ltd. (MECL)for exploration by MECL at all SAIL mines for assessing the reserves and quality of ore available. It has already started exploratory work in Gua and Chiria mines.Heavy Engineering Corporation (HEC)for equipment/spares required for modernization/expansion.Bharat Earth Movers Limited (BEML)for supply of crucial equipment.Rajasthan State Mines & Minerals Limited (RSMML)for long-term supply of low-silica limestone.IIM, Ahmedabad and Management Development Institute (MDI), Gurgaonknowledge sharing.Indian Railwaysfor procurement of high power locomotives<br />PRESENT & FUTURE<br />SAIL TodaySAIL today is one of the largest industrial entities in India. Its strength has been the diversified range of quality steel products catering to the domestic, as well as the export markets and a large pool of technical and professional expertise.Today, the accent in SAIL is to continuously adapt to the competitive business environment and excel as a business organisation, both within and outside India.<br />SAIL - Into the Future<br />Modernisation and Expansion Plan of SAIL Corporate Plan-Expansion Plan, 2010 The Corporate Plan, 2012 was reviewed by Hon’ble Minister of Steel in Jul’06, wherein it was decided to take up the Expansion of Integrated Steel Plants and Special Steel Plant in one go based on Composite Project Feasibility Report (CPFR).By that time Expansion of IISCO Steel Plant and Salem Steel Plant was already approved “in-principle” based on the Techno-Economic Feasibility Report (TEFR) of MECON. For the Expansion of other four integrated Steel Plants, MECON was assigned the job of Preparation of CPFR in Aug’06. The CPFR for the four integrated steel plants was prepared by MECON.‘In principle’ approval has been accorded by SAIL Board for the expansion plans of IISCO<br />82550639445BOKARO STEEL PLANT - A PARTNER IN NATION BUILDING Bokaro Steel Plant - the fourth integrated plant in the Public Sector - started taking shape in 1965 in collaboration with the Soviet Union. It was originally incorporated as a limited company on 29th January 1964, and was later merged with SAIL, first as a subsidiary and then as a unit, through the Public Sector Iron & Steel Companies (Restructuring & Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1978. The construction work started on 6th April 1968.The Plant is hailed as the country’s first Swadeshi steel plant, built with maximum indigenous content in terms of equipment, material and know-how. Its first Blast Furnace started on 2nd October 1972 and the first phase of 1.7 MT ingots steel was completed on 26th February 1978 with the commissioning of the third Blast Furnace. All units of 4 MT stage have already been commissioned and the 90s' modernization has further upgraded this to 4.5 MT of liquid steel. The new features added in modernization of SMS-II include two twin-strand slab casters<br />along with a Steel Refining Unit. The Steel Refining Unit was inaugurated on 19th September, 1997 and the Continuous Casting Machine on 25th April, 1998. The modernization of the Hot Strip Mill saw addition of new features like high pressure de-scalers, work roll bending, hydraulic automatic gauge control, quick work roll change, laminar cooling etc. New walking beam reheating furnaces are replacing the less efficient pusher type furnaces.A new hydraulic coiler has been added and two of the existing ones revamped. With the completion of Hot Strip Mill modernization, Bokaro is producing top quality hot rolled <br />People - The moving forceBokaro Steel values its people as the fulcrum of all organizational activities. The saga of Bokaro Steel is the story of Bokaro erecting a gigantic plant in the wilderness of Chhotanagpur, reaching milestones one after another, staving off stiff challenges in the liberalized era, modernizing its facilities and innovating their way to the top of the heap.DirectionsBokaro Steel is working towards becoming a one-stop-shop for world-class flat steel in India. The modernization plans are aimed at increasing the liquid steel production capacity, coupled with fresh rolling and coating facilities. The new facilities will be capable of producing the most premium grades required by the most discerning customer segments.Brand Bokaro will signify assured quality and delivery, offering value for money to the customers.<br />BOKARO STEEL PLANT – FACILITIES<br /> <br />Raw Materials & Material Handling Plant<br />The Raw Materials and Material Handling Plant receives, blends, stores and supplies different raw materials to Blast Furnace, Sinter Plant and Refractory Materials Plant as per their requirements. It also maintains a buffer stock to take care of any supply interruptions.<br />Some 9 MT of different raw materials viz. Iron ore fines and lumps, Limestone (BF and SMS grade), Dolomite lumps and chips, hard Coal and Manganese ore are handled here every year.<br />Iron ore and fluxes are sourced from the captive mines of SAIL situated at Kiriburu, Meghahataburu, Bhawanathpur, Tulsidamar and Kuteshwar. Washed coal is supplied from different washeries at Dugda, Kathara, Kargali and Giddi, while raw coal is obtained from Jharia coalfields.<br />Coke Ovens & By-product PlantThe Coke Oven Complex at Bokaro converts prime coking coal from Jharia, Dugda and Moonidih and medium coking coal form Kargali, Kathara and Mahuda, blended with imported coal, into high quality coke for the Blast Furnaces, recovering valuable by-products like Anthracene Oil, Benzene, Toluene, Xylene, Light Solvent Naphtha, Ammonium Sulphate and Extra-hard Pitch in the process. Bokaro is situated in the prime coal belt of the country.The Coke Oven battery has 8 batteries with 69 ovens each, maintained meticulously in terms of fugitive emission control, use of phenolic water and other pollution control measures.<br />Blast FurnacesBokaro has five 2000-cubic metre Blast Furnaces that produce molten iron - Hot Metal - for steel making. Bell-less Top Charging, modernised double Cast Houses, Coal Dust Injection and Cast House Slag Granulation technologies have been deployed in the furnaces. The process of iron-making is automated, using PLC Charging System and Computer Controlled Supervision System. The wastes products like Blast Furnace slag and gas are either used directly within plant or processed for recycling / re-use.<br />Steel Melting ShopsHot Metal from the Blast Furnaces is converted into steel by blowing 99.5% pure Oxygen through it in the LD converter. Suitable alloying elements are added to produce different grades of steel.Bokaro has two Steel Melting Shops - SMS-I and SMS-II. SMS-I has 5 LD converters of 130T capacity each. It is capable of producing Rimming steel through the ingot route. SMS-II has 2 LD converters, each of 300 T capacities, with suppressed combustion system and Continuous Casting facility. It produces various Killed and Semi-Killed steels.Continuous Casting ShopThe Continuous Casting Shop has two double-strand slab casting machines, producing high quality slabs of width ranging from 950 mm to 1850 mm. CCS has a Ladle Furnace and a Ladle Rinsing Station for secondary refining of the steel. The Ladle Furnace is used for homogenizing the chemistry and temperature. The concast machines have straight moulds, unique in the country, to produce internally clean slabs. Argon injection in the shroud and tundish nozzle prevent re-oxidation and nitrogen pick-up, maintaining steel quality. The eddy current based automatic mould level control, unique in the country, gives better surface quality. The air mist cooling and continuous straightening facilities keep the slabs free from internal defects like cracks. The casters are fully automated with dynamic cooling, on-line slab cutting, de-burring and customized marking. The shop is equipped with advanced Level-3 automation and control systems for scheduling, monitoring and process optimization.CCS produces steel of Drawing, Deep Drawing, Extra Deep Drawing, Boiler and Tin Plate quality. It also produces low alloy steels like LPG, WTCR, SAILCOR and API Grade.<br />Slabbing MillSlabbing Mill transforms ingots into slabs by rolling them in its 1250 mm Universal Four-High Mill. The rolling capacity of the Mill is 4 MT per annum. The shop has Hot and Cold Scarfing Machines and 2800 T Shearing Machine. Controlled heating in Soaking Pits, close <br />Hot Strip MillSlabs from CCS and Slabbing Mill are processed in the state-of-the-art Hot Strip Mill. The fully automatic Hot Strip Mill with an annual capacity of 3.363 million tonnes has a wide range of products - thickness varying from 1.2 mm to 20 mm and width from 750 mm to 1850 mm. The mill is equipped with state-of-the-art automation and controls, using advanced systems for process optimisation with on-line real time computer control, PLCs and technological control systems.Walking Beam Reheating Furnaces provide uniform heating with reduction in heat losses, ensuring consistency in thickness throughout the length. High-pressure De-scaling System helps eliminate rolled-in scale. Edger in the roughing group maintain width within close tolerance. The roughing group has a roughing train of a Vertical Scale Breaker, one 2-high Roughing Stand and four 4-high Universal Roughing Stands. The finishing group consists of a Flying Shear, Finishing Scale Breaker and seven 4-high Finishing Stands. Hydraulic Automatic Gauge Control system in the finishing stands ensures close thickness tolerance. The Work Roll Bending System ensures improved strip crown and flatness. The rolling speed at the last finishing stand is between 7.5-17.5 meters per second. The Laminar Cooling System is a unique feature to control coiling temperature over a wide range within close tolerance. The Hydraulic Coilers maintain perfect coil shape with On-line Strapping system. On-line Robotic Marking on the coil helps in tracking its identity.<br />Hot Rolled Coil FinishingAll the Hot Rolled coils from the Hot Strip Mill are received in HRCF for further distribution or dispatch. HR Coils rolled against direct shipment orders are sheared and finished to customer-required sizes and dispatched to customers. The material is supplied as per Indian specifications and many international/ foreign specifications. The shop has two shearing lines with capacities of 6, 45,000 Tonnes/ year and 4, 75,000 Tonnes/ year respectively.<br />Cold Rolling MillThe Cold Rolling Mill at Bokaro uses state-of-the-art technology to produce high quality sheet gauge material, Tin Mill Black Plate and Galvanized Products. Cold rolling is done to produce thinner gauge strips of very smooth and dense finish, with better mechanical properties than hot rolling strips. Rolling is done well below re-crystallization temperature without any prior heating of the material. The products of CRM are used for deep drawing purposes, automobile bodies, steel furniture’s, drums and barrels, railway coaches, other bending and shaping jobs and coated steels. The CRM complex comprises of two Pickling Lines (including a high speed Hydrochloric Acid Pickling Line with re-generation facilities), two Tandem Mills, an Electrolytic Cleaning Line, a Continuous Annealing Line, Bell Annealing Furnaces, two Skin-Pass Mills, a Double Cold Reduction Mill (DCR), Shearing Lines, Slitting Lines and a packaging and dispatch section. The 5-stand Tandem Mill is capable of rolling sheet gauges upto 0.15 mm thickness. It has sophisticated Hydraulic Automatic Gauge Control, computerised mill regulation and optimisation control.<br />Hot Dip Galvanizing ComplexThe Hot Dip Galvanizing Complex integrated with the CRM produces zinc-coated Cold Rolled strips resistant to atmospheric, liquid and soil corrosion. The Continuous Coil Corrugation Line in the HDGC produces corrugated sheets and the Galvanized Sheet Shearing Line produces galvanized plain sheets for a variety of applications. The first shop of Bokaro Steel to get the ISO-9001 certification way back in 1994, this complex has maintained a high-standard of coating quality and its SAILJYOTI branded products enjoy a loyal market.This complex made certain innovations for higher productivity to help re-build earthquake ravaged Gujarat. <br />Services - a valuable support networkThe service departments like Traffic, Oxygen Plant, Water Management and Energy Management provide invaluable support to this gigantic plant. Bokaro Steel has a vast networked of railway tracks and over 40 diesel locos to smoothly run its operations. The Oxygen Plant provides Oxygen, Nitrogen and Argon for processes like steelmaking and annealing. Water Management looks after the huge water requirements of the plant and the township, providing different grades of water and taking care of recycling needs. Energy Management juggles the supply and demand of by-product gases and their demand as process fuel. Maintenance DepartmentsBokaro has centralised maintenance departments for large-scale electrical and mechanical maintenance, in addition to shop-based maintenance wings for running repairs and maintenance. These facilities are capable of executing massive capital repairs, supported by the fabrication facilities of the auxiliary shops.Auxiliary ShopsTo meet its needs for maintenance and repairs, Bokaro has a cluster of engineering shops such as Machine Shop, Forge Shop, Structural Shop, Steel Foundry, Ingot Mould Foundry, Cast Iron and Non-Ferrous Foundry, Electrical Repair Shop and Power Facilities Repair Shop in addition to shop-specific Area Repair Shops. Most of the repairs and maintenance requirements of the plant are met in-house.The auxiliary shops and maintenance wings of Bokaro Steel, aided by in-house design teams, have executed a number of highly sophisticated procurement-substitution, productivity enhancement and quality improvement jobs, saving revenues and enhancing equipment availability.<br />BOKARO STEEL PLANT - Community 0266700<br />Peripheral DevelopmentBokaro Steel is striving to reach the glow and warmth of its furnaces to people living at the periphery of this thriving steel city. All villages and residential settlements within a radius of 20 kilometers are covered under the peripheral development programmes that benefit some 3 lakh persons. In recent years, the stress has been on developing basic and infrastructure facilities like roads, bridges, schools, primary health centre’s, wells, pumps etc. and renovating the existing facilities.Regular health camps are organised to reach immunisation and free medicines to people. Free medicines are also supplied to Asha Dan, a hospital for the lepers, and to government hospitals in the event of natural calamities.Bokaro Steel pitched in with its share in the relief of victims of natural calamities like the Orissa cyclone, Gujarat earthquake and Bihar floods.For a number of years, Bokaro Steel has been sponsoring a First Aid camp during Shravani Mela for the Kanwariyas walking with holy water from Sultanganj in Bihar to Deoghar in Jharkhand - a holy journey of some 100 kilometers.<br />Community CareIn a uniquely sensitive gesture of social care, Bokaro Steel has adopted children belonging to the primitive Birhor tribe that has a very limited population. These children live under the love and care of Bokaro Steel, getting free board, lodging, dresses and education. They are getting developmental opportunities of the modern world, without having to shun their own cultural moorings.Encouraging AncillariesThe ancillaries under the Bokaro Industrial Area Development Authority symbolise the spill-over of economic activities due to Bokaro Steel. The Plant aids these industrial units by providing testing facilities, technical support for modernisation and upgradation, and preferential procurement orders in their areas of strength that match Bokaro Steel's requirements. To keep them abreast of the prevailing quality assurance standards, Bokaro Steel has been giving free consultations to these units for developing their ISO 9001 QA Systems.Bokaro Mahila SamitiFounded in 1964, Bokaro Mahila Samiti is a leading philanthropic organisation of the spouses of steelmen, giving succour to needy people and creating opportunities for skill enhancement and self-employment. The Samiti runs a number of schools for poor children and for uneducated elderly and a children's library. The training centre and Udyog Kendra with wings for making spices, flour, safety gloves, soap, shawls, apparel and embroidered clothes, provide livelihood to a number of women. Free medical consultation for neonates and their mothers and mobile dispensary play a key role in providing primary healthcare to needy persons. The Samiti organises aid drives for lepers, victims of natural calamities, children from poor families and other resource-constrained people.<br />BOKARO STEEL PLANT - PRODUCT BASKETMill CapabilitiesShopProductsFacilityAnnual Capacity (,000 Tonnes)Thickness range (mm)Width range (mm)Length (metre)HSMHR Coils/ Sheets/ PlatesContinuous Mill39551.6 -16900-1850 HRCFHR Sheets/ PlatesShearing Line-I-5-1018002.5-12 HR Sheets/ PlatesShearing Line-II 1.6-415001.5-4.5 HR CoilSlitting Line CRM 1660 CR Coils/ SheetsCRM-I complex 0.63-2.5700-1850 CR Coils/ SheetsCRM-II complex 0.63-1.6650-1250 CR Coils/ Sheets, TMBPDCR Mill1000.22-0.8650-1040 GP Coils & Sheets GC SheetsHDGL1700.3-1.6650-1250 By-productsNitration-grade BenzeneNitration-grade TolueneLight Solvent NaphthaStill Bottom OilHot Pressed NaphthaleneAnthracene OilExtra-hard PitchHard-medium Pitch (solid/ liquid)Ammonium SulphatePitch Creosote MixtureBF Granulated SlagLiquid NitrogenPhenol Fraction Special Grades of SteelSpecial Steel GradesApplicationSAE 1541Automobile IndustryMC 11Cycle IndustrySPC 370/390Cycle IndustryC 15Cycle IndustryAPI X-42, X-46, X-52, X-56, X-60 (SAILAPI)Pipe Line SAILCOR (corrosion resistant)RailwaysSAILMEDSi (Medium Silicon Steel)Heavy Electrical WindingSAILPROPPropeller ShaftStrapping Steel (for internal use only)Strapping Finished ProductsFull-hard Galvanised CoilExtra hard roof of housesCold Rolled Medium Electrical SteelTransformer coreExtra-low Carbon Extra Deep Drawing (HR & CR)White goodsDMR 249A Grade SteelDefence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) for fabrication of Submarine parts (import substitution)E460/E500/E550Floating bridges for Defence. For M/S BEML; for making. (import substitution)IS8500 Fe 540B high strength low alloy steel with UTS value in excess of 540 MpaKolkata fly-overLow Carbon, Low Manganese, High Strength Structural Steel without microalloying (Carbon 0.10%)Structural purposes. Thermo-mechanically Controlled Processing.<br />REVIEW OF LITERATURE<br />Working Capital management is the management of assets that are current in nature. Current assets, by accounting definition are the assets normally converted in to cash in a period of one year. Hence working capital management can be considered as the management of cash, market securities receivable, inventories and current liabilities. In fact, the management of current assets is similar to that of fixed assets in the sense that is both in cases the firm analyses their effect on its profitability and risk factors, hence they differ on three major aspects:<br />1. In managing fixed assets, time is an important factor discounting and compounding aspects of time play an important role in capital budgeting and a minor part in the management of current assets.<br />2.The large holdings of current assets, especially cash, may strengthen the firm’s liquidity position, but is bound to reduce profitability of the firm as ideal car yield nothing.<br />3. The level of fixed assets as well as current assets depends upon the expected sales, but it is only current assets that add fluctuation in the short run to a business.<br />To understand working capital better we should have basic knowledge about the various aspects of working capital. To start with, there are two concepts of working capital:<br />Gross Working Capital<br />Net working Capital<br />Gross Working Capital: Gross working capital, which is also simply known as working capital, refers to the firm’s investment in current assets: Another aspect of gross working capital points out the need of arranging funds to finance the current assets. The gross working capital concept focuses attention on two aspects of current assets management, firstly optimum investment in current assets and secondly in financing the current assets. These two aspects will help in remaining away from the two danger points of excessive or inadequate investment in current assets. Whenever a need of working capital funds arises due to increase in level of business activity or for any other reason the arrangement should be made quickly, and similarly if some surpluses are available, they should not be allowed to lie ideal but should be put to some effective use. <br />Net Working Capital: The term net working capital refers to the difference between the current assets and current liabilities. Net working capital can be positive as well as negative. Positive working capital refers to the situation where current assets exceed current liabilities and negative working capital refers to the situation where current liabilities exceed current assets. The net working capital helps in comparing the liquidity of the same firm over time. For purposes of the working capital management, therefore Working Capital can be said to measure the liquidity of the firm. In other words, the goal of working capital management is to manage the current assets and liabilities in such a way that a acceptable level of net working capital is maintained.<br />Importance of working capital management: <br />Management of working capital is very much important for the success of the business. It has been emphasized that a business should maintain sound working capital position and also that there should not be an excessive level of investment in the working capital components. As pointed out by Ralph Kennedy and Stewart MC Muller, “the inadequacy or mis-management of working capital is one of a few leading causes of business failure.<br />Current assets, in fact, account for a very large portion of the total investment of the firm.<br />Determinants of Working Capital:<br />There is no specific method to determine working capital requirement for a business. There are a number of factors affecting the working capital requirement. These factors have different importance in different businesses and at different times. So a thorough analysis of all these factors should be made before trying to estimate the amount of working capital needed. Some of the different factors are mentioned here below:-<br />Nature of business: It is an important factor in determining the working capital requirements.Some businesses require a very nominal amount to be invested in fixed assets but a large amount in working capital, such as trading and financing type and are some businesses which require large investment in fixed assets and normal investment in the form of working capital.<br />Size of business: It is another important factor in determining the working capital requirements of a business. Size is usually measured in terms of scale of operating cycle. The amount of working capital needed is directly proportional to the scale of operating cycle i.e. the larger the scale of operating cycle the large will be the amount working capital and vice versa.<br />Business Fluctuations: Most business experience cyclical and seasonal fluctuations in demand for their goods and services. These fluctuations affect the business with respect to working capital because during the time of boom, due to an increase in business activity the amount of working capital requirement increases and the reverse is true in the case of recession. Financial arrangement for seasonal working capital requirements are to be made in advance.<br />Production Policy: As stated above, every business has to cope with different types of fluctuations. Hence it is but obvious that production policy has to be planned well in advance with respect to fluctuation.<br />Firm’s Credit Policy: The credit policy of a firm affects working capital by influencing the level of book debts. Hence a firm should always frame a rational credit policy based on the credit worthiness of the customer. <br />Availability of Credit: The terms on which a company is able to avail credit from its suppliers of goods and devices credit/also affects the working capital requirement. If a company in a position to get credit on liberal terms and in a short span of time then it will be in a position to work with less amount of working capital.<br />Growth and Expansion activities: The working capital needs of a firm increases as it grows in term of sale or fixed assets. There is no precise way to determine the relation between the amount of sales and working capital requirement but one thing is sure that an increase in sales never precedes the increase in working capital but it is always the other way round.<br />Price Level Changes: Generally increase in price level makes the commodities dearer and it increases the requirement of working capital too. The companies which are in a position to alter the price of these commodities in accordance with the price level changes will face fewer problems as compared to others. <br />RESEARCH METHODOLOGY<br />Research Design:<br />Data Collection: Data has been collected through secondary approach.<br />Data Sources<br />The research involved gathering Secondary data. Lot of data has been pooled from Bokaro Steel Plant to use in the study.<br />Scope of the Study<br /> The data has been collected from the secondary sources comprising Annual Reports of the firm, other journals and periodicals.<br />Apart from conducting this research work on the basis of this information, various techniques of financial management e.g., comparative statement and ratio analysis etc. were used in the present study. To present a broad view so far the purpose of the analysis and to make it easy to understand the problem/concept of a few graphs and tables shall also be presented. In each chapter, the analysis has been compared with actual management practices of the company under study. The project is strictly on financing the companies for their day to day transactions. The broad parameters being current assets ratio, quick test ratio etc.<br />Limitation of the Study<br />The present study is limited to Bokaro Steel Plant.<br />The authenticity of the suggestions and recommendations depend upon the rationality of the data provided to me.<br />Have to rely upon the data supplied.<br />Executives are not ready to part with the information beyond a limit.<br />WORKING CAPITAL- OVERALL VIEW<br />CASH <br />Cash is the important current asset for the operations of the business. Cash is the basic input needed to keep the business running on a continuous basis It is also the ultimate output expected to be realized by selling the service or product manufactured by the firm. Thus a major function of the Financial Manager is to maintain a sound cash position.<br />The term cash includes currency and cheques held by the firm and balances in its bank accounts. Sometimes near cash items, such as marketable securities or bank time deposits are also included in cash. The basic characteristics of near cash assets are that they can easily be converted into cash.<br /> Following are the actions which a finance manager has to perform:-<br />1. To forecast cash inflows and outflows<br />2. To plan cash requirements <br />3. To determine the safety level for cash.<br />4. To monitor safety level for cash<br />5. To locate the needed funds<br />6. To regulate cash inflows<br />7. To regulate cash outflows<br />8. To determine criteria for investment of excess cash<br />9. To avail banking facilities and maintain good relations with bankers<br />Motives for holding cash:<br />There are four primary motives for maintaining cash balances:<br />1. Transaction motive<br />2 .Precautionary motive<br />3. Speculative motive<br />4. Compensating motive<br />1. Transaction motive: - The transaction motive refers to the holding of cash to meet anticipated obligations whose timing is not perfectly synchronised with cash receipts. <br />2. Precautionary motive: - Precautionary motive of holding cash implies the need to hold cash to meet unpredictable obligations and the cash balance held in reserve for such random and unforeseen fluctuations in cash flows are called as precautionary balances. Thus, precautionary cash balance serves to provide a cushion to meet unexpected contingencies. <br />3. Speculative motive: - The speculative motive represents a positive and aggressive approach. Firms aim to exploit profitable opportunities and keep cash in reserve to do so. The speculative motive helps to take advantage of: opportunity to purchase raw materials at a reduced price on payment of immediate cash; chance to speculate on interest rate movements by buying securities when interest rates are expected to decline.<br />4. Compensation motive: - Yet another motive to hold cash balances is to compensate banks for providing certain services and loans. Banks provide a variety of services to business firms, such as clearances of cheques, supply of credit information, transfer of funds, etc. While for some of the services banks charge a commission of fee for others they seek indirect compensation. Usually clients are required to maintain a minimum balance of cash at the bank…..<br />Determining the optimal level of cash balance:<br />Cash balance is maintained for the transaction purposes and additional amount may be maintained as a buffer or safety stock.<br />The Finance manager should determine the appropriate amount of cash balance. Such a decision is influenced by trade-off between risk and return. If the firm maintains small cash balance, its liquidity position becomes week and suffers from a paucity of cash to make payments. But a higher profitability can be attained by investing released funds in some profitable opportunities. When the firm runs out of cash it may have to sell its marketable securities, if available, or borrow. This involves transaction cost.<br />On the other hand if the firm maintains a higher level of cash balance, it will have a sound liquidity position but forego the opportunities to earn interests. The potential interest lost on holding large cash balance involves opportunities cost to the firm. <br />Thus the firm should maintain an optimum cash balance, neither a large nor a small cash balance.<br />To find out the optimum cash balance the transaction cost and risk of too small balance should be matched with opportunity costs of too large a balance should be matched with opportunity cost of too large a balance. Figure shows this trade-off graphically. If the firm maintains larger cash balances its transaction cost would decline, but the opportunity cost would increase. <br />If cash flows are predictable it is simply a problem of minimizing the total costs - the transaction cost and the opportunity cost.<br />The determination of optimum working cash balance under certainty can thus be viewed as an inventory problem in which we balance the cost of too little cash ( transaction cost) against the cost of too much cash( opportunity cash)<br />Cash flows, in practice, are not completely predictable. At times they may be completely random. Under such a situation, a different model based on the technique of control theory is needed to solve the problem of appropriate level of working cash balance.<br />INVENTORY<br />Inventories are the stock of the product made for sale by the company or semi finished goods or raw materials. Inventory of finished goods which are ready for sale is required to maintain smooth marketing operation. The inventory of raw material and work in progress is required in order to maintain an unobstructed flow of material in the production line. These inventories serve as a link between the production and consumption of goods.<br />The aspect of management of inventory is especially important in respect to the fact that in country like India, the capital block in terms of inventory is about 70% of the current assets. It is therefore, absolutely imperative to manage efficiently and effectively in order to avoid unnecessary investment in them. Although to maintain low inventories may prove to be profitable but to maintain very low inventories may prove risky on the contrary.<br />This aspect of management if tackled in a proper way may prove to be a boon its effective and efficient management would result in the maintaining of optimum level of inventories. At this level the profitability of the organization will not be jeopardized at the cost of inventory.<br />Now from the above stated facts it is clear that maintaining of optimum level of inventory involves huge cost, so why should keep the inventories at all. Basically there are three main reasons for which inventories are stocked and they are:-<br />1. Transaction Motive: This motive lays emphasis on maintaining of inventories in order to maintain a smooth and unobstructed supply of materials for the sales and production operations.<br />2. Precautionary Motive: This motive emphasizes on the stocking goods in order to guard against the uncertainties of future i.e. unpredictable changes in the forces of demand, supply and other forces.<br />3.Speculative Motive:This motive influences the decisions regarding the increase or decrease in the level of inventory in order to take advantage of price fluctuations.<br />Raw Materials:-<br />A company should maintain adequate stock of materials for a continuous supply to the factory for an uninterrupted production. It is not possible for a company to procure raw material instantaneously whenever needed. The procurement of materials may be delayed because of factors beyond company’s control e.g. transport disruption, strike etc. Therefore, the firm should keep a sufficient stock of raw material at a time. <br />Work-in-Progress:-<br />The work in process inventory builds up because of the production cycle. Production cycle is the time span between the introduction of raw material in to the production and the emergence of finished goods at the completion of production cycle. Till the production cycle completes, the stock of work in process has to be maintained.<br />Finished Goods:-<br />The stock of finished goods has to be held because production and sales are not instantaneous. A firm cannot produce immediately when goods are demanded by customers. Therefore to supply finished goods on regular basis, their stock has to maintain for sudden demand of customers, Failure to supply products to customer, when demanded, would mean loss of the firm’s sales to the competitors.<br />The basic objective in holding raw material inventory is separate purchase and production activities and in holding finished goods inventory is to separate production and sales activities<br />The excessive investment in the inventory has the following drawbacks:<br />Unnecessary tie up of firm’s fund and loss of profit.<br />Excessive carrying cost.<br />The risk of liquidity.<br />The over investment of funds in inventory eat up the precious funds which could have been put to some profitable use. The carrying cost incurred, can not be ignored, this is the cost of storage, handling insurance, recording and inspecting. These all costs incurred in order to have large inventories impair the profitability of the firm. Another danger of carrying excessive inventory is the deterioration, obsolescence and pilferage of raw materials.<br />Before discussing the inventory control technique, here is the discussion of the various terms such as economic order quantity, carrying cost etc.<br />1. Economic Order Quantity: It is the inventory level which minimizes the total of ordering and carrying cost<br />2.Ordering Cost: This is used especially in the case of raw materials and is included in the cost incurred in acquiring the raw material. It is proportional to the number of orders and inversely proportional to the size of inventory<br />3. Carrying Cost: There are the costs which are incurred for holding a given amount of inventory, they include opportunity cost of funds invested is inventories insurance, taxes, storage cost and the cost of deterioration and obsolescence<br />4. Reorder Points: Reorder point is the inventory level at which an order must be placed to replenish the inventory and evade the risk of running out of raw material<br />5. Safety Stocks: Therefore in order to guard against the stock out, the company may keep some buffer stock as a cushion against expected increased and/or delay in delivery .This buffer stock is called as safety stock.<br />RECEIVABLES<br />The term receivables are defined as ‘debt owed to the firm by customers arising from sale of goods or services in the ordinary course of businesses’. Trade credit, the tool which as a bridge for movement of goods through production and distribution stages to customer, is a force in the present day business and an essential device. Trade credit is granted with a motive of protecting the sale from ones, competitors and attaching more of the potential customers. Trade credit is said to be extended to a customer when a firm sell its services or goods and does not receive the payment for them immediately. Thus trade credit creates receivable which refer to the amount which a firm is expected to collect in near future.<br />The book debt or receivable which arise a result of trade credit have the following features:<br />It involves a element of risk and hence should never to be fiddled with. As credit sale leave a sum to be recovered in future and future can never be the certainty, hence it is risky.<br />It is based on economic value, while for the buyer, the economic value in goods passes immediately at the time of purchase, while the seller expects an equivalent value to be received later on.<br />It represents futurity. The cash payments for the goods or services received by the buyer will be made in future.<br />In order to maximize the wealth of the firm, the cost involved in the credit and its management has to be controlled within the acceptable limits. These costs can brought to zero level but that would adversely affect the sales, therefore the objective should be to kept receivable to the minimum level. A dynamic credit policy and its management will help to optimize the sale at a minimum cost.<br />Debtors involve funds, which have an opportunity cost. Therefore the investment in debtors should be never be excessive. Extending liberal credit pushes the sale and results in higher profitability but the increase in level of investment in debtors result in increased cost. Thus we are to bring the investment at a optimum level by doing trade off between the costs and benefits. The level of debtors to a large extent depends on external factors such an industry norms, level of activity, seasonal variations etc. But there are lot of internal factors which affects the firm’ credit policy. These factors include credit terms, standard, limits and collection procedures. The internal factors should be well administered to optimize the investment in debtors.<br />A good and well administered credit means profitable credit accounts. The whole set of decision variables that affects the investment in receivable is termed as credit policy. Generally, we can divide the credit policy into two types<br />Lenient Credit Policy<br />Stringent Credit Policy<br />Lenient Credit policy- The firms following Lenient Credit Policy tend to sell on credit to its customers very readily, without even knowing the credit worthiness of the customers. The firms with lenient credit policy will have more sales and higher profits. But they can also incur high bad debts losses and face the problem of liquidity. <br />Stringent Credit Policy- The firm which follows Stringent Credit policy are very selective in extending credit, and credit is extended to those customer only whose credit worthiness is well proven. These firms follow tight credit standards and terms as a result, minimize cost and chances of bad debts.The stringent credit policy never poses the problem of liquidity but restrict the sale and profit margins.<br />Extension of credit increases the sale of the firm. The number of customers purchasing the firm’s goods and services increases as it makes its credit policy liberal. If the cost do not increase at a greater rate, the increased revenue will increase the profit of the firm. As a consequence, the market value of firm’s share will rise.<br />The extent to which the sales will be affected by pursuing a particular credit policy can not be gauged with accuracy. Sales forecast with respect to a particular credit policy can be made with regards to prevailing economic condition. However, cost benefit analysis has to be done in order to anticipate the acceptability of a credit policy.<br />Credit extension involves cost, the incurred cost can be of many types such as bad debt losses, production and selling costs, administrative expenses, cash discounts, opportunity cost etc.Bad debt losses are incurred when a firm is unable to collect the book debts. Bad debt losses are more if the credit policy is lenient.<br />The additional sales resulting from the relaxed credit policy will increase the production and selling costs. Only the incremental production or selling costs should be estimated. Similarly, the expenses incurred in the administration of credit should be included in the costs of extending credit. The cost of administration generally includes the credit supervision costs and collection costs. Again, these costs will be nil if the credit policy simply utilize the idle capacity of the credit department.<br />The opportunity cost is the cost of foregone profits of the amount blocked as trade credit to customers in order to sustain or increase sales. As a result of the funds tied up in credit accounts often the firms have to go in for credit from banks in order to sustain their operations.<br />In order to collect the trade credits at an early date, often cash discounts have to be extended. As a result of these cash discounts firms are not in a position to collect the remuneration for their sales in full. This is essentially a tool to bring the trade credit to an optimum level.<br />Aspects of Credit Policy:<br />The important aspects of credit policy should be identified before establishing an optimum credit policy. The important decision variables of the credit policy are:<br />Credit Terms: Credit terms are the conditions or stipulations under which the firm extends credit. The terms and conditions can be clubbed according to the period for which they are extended and according to the amount of discount offered thereby there are two important components of trade credit namely cash period and cash discounts. Credit terms can be effectively used as a tool to boost sales. If the action of relaxation of the credit terms is followed by the competitors. Then the firm may have to pay instead of gaining anything.<br />The time duration for which the credit is extended to the customers is referred to as credit period. Usually the credit period of the firm is governed by the industry norms, but firms can extend credit duration to stimulate its sales<br />Credit Standards: The credit standards followed by the firm have an impact on sales and receivable. The sales and receivable levels are likely to be high if the credit standards of the firm are relatively loose. The credit standards are governed by various aspects such as the willingness of customer to pay, the ability of customer to pay in the economic conditions etc. <br />Collection Policy: The need to collect the payments early gave rise to a policy regarding it, called as the collection policy. It aims at the speed recovery from slow payers and reduction of bad debts losses. <br />Credit Procedure <br />A clear cut guiding policy regarding the granting of credit to individual customers and the collection from individual account should be laid down. The collection procedure of the firm differs from customer to customer. The credit evaluation procedure before extending of credit is done in the following ways:<br />1) Credit Information: In extending credit to customers, the firm would ensure that the receivable are collected in full and on due date. To ensure this, the firm should have credit information concerning each customer to whom credit is given. Collection of credit information involves expenses. The cost of collecting information should therefore be less than the potential profitability. In addition to the cost, the time required to collect information should be considered. This information can be collected from financial statement, bank references, trade references, credit bureau reports etc.<br />2) Credit Investigation: After the collection of credit information the firm needs to go in for further investigation. These investigations are different for different people and depend upon the type of customers, customer’s background, nature of our product, size of the other, firm’s credit policy etc.<br />Credit investigations involve cost. But a credit decision without adequate investigations can be more expensive in terms of excessive collection costs and possible bad debts losses. Therefore credit investigations should be cared so long as the savings, in terms of speedy collection and prevention of bad debts losses, from it exceed the cost incurred in the process.<br />3) Credit Analysis: In the credit procedure, the next step is of credit analysis. The appraisals regarding the financial strength, nature of business, type of management with respect to the other party are to be considered. The decision to extend credit to the customers will basically depend upon the judgment of the credit analyst, although numerical, credit evaluation systems exist, if it is expected that more and more of qualitative systems will evolve in near future.<br />4) Credit Limits: Once the decision regarding the extending of credit has been taken then the decision regarding the duration and the amount of credit are to be taken. The credit limit is to be periodically reviewed and alterations, continuously done. The decision on the magnitude of credit will depend upon the amount of contemplated sale and the customer’s financial strength.<br />5) Collection Procedure: A clear cut and well administered collection procedure will speed up the rate of dues collection if collection is delayed then the chances of bad debts also increases. The procedure of collection can not be same for everyone, it has to down according to the relation of the firm with its customer the responsibility of follow up and collection should be clearly designated. To speed up the process of collection after we use discount schemes etc. <br />Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 1: Four year comparative studies between current assets, current liabilities and working capital of Bokaro Steel Plant<br />Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 2: Four year comparative studies between current assets composition<br />Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 3: Four year comparative studies between current liabilities composition<br />TRADE-OFF BETWEEN PROFITABILITY AND RISK<br />In evaluating a firm’s NWC position, an important consideration is the trade-off between profitability and risk. The term profitability used in this context is measured by profit after expenses. The term risk is defined as the probability that a firm will become technically insolvent so that it will not be able to meet its obligations when they become due for payment. <br />In evaluating the profitability-risk trade-off related to the level of NWC, three basic assumptions, which are: (a) that we are dealing with manufacturing firm; (b) that current assets are less profitable than fixed assets; and (c) that short-term funds are less expensive than long-term funds.<br />Effect of the level of current assets on the profitability-risk trade-off<br />This effect can be shown by using the ratio of current assets to total assets.<br />Effect of increase/higher ratio: An increase in the ratio of current assets to total assets will lead to a decline in profitability because current assets are assumed to be less profitable than fixed assets. A second effect of the increase in the ratio will be that the risk of technical insolvency would also decrease because the increase in current assets, assuming no change in current liabilities, will increase NWC.<br />Effect of decrease/lower ratio: A decrease in the ratio of current assets to total assets will lead to an increase in profitability as well as risk. The increase in profitability will primarily be due to the corresponding increase in fixed assets which are likely to generate higher returns. Since the current assets decrease without a corresponding reduction in current liabilities, the amount of NWC will decrease, thereby increase risk. <br />Effect of the level of current liabilities on the profitability-risk trade-off<br />Effect of increase/higher ratio: An increase in the ratio of current liabilities to total assets will lead to a increase in profitability. The reason for the increased profitability lies in the fact that current liabilities, which are a short term sources of finance will be reduced. As short term sources of finance are less expensive than long-run sources, increase in the ratio will, in effect, mean substituting less expensive sources for more expensive sources of financing. There will, therefore, be a decline in cost and a corresponding rise in profitability.<br /> The increase in the ratio will also increase the risk. Any increase in current liabilities, assuming no change in current assets, would adversely affect the NWC. A decrease in NWC leads to an increase in risk. Thus, as the current liabilities-total assets ratio increases, profitability increases, but so dose risk.<br />Effect of decrease/lower ratio: A decrease in the ratio of current liabilities to total assets will lead to decrease in profitability as well as risk. The use of more long term funds which, by definition, are more expensive will increase the cost; by implication, profits will also decline. Similarly, risk will decrease because of the lower level of current liabilities on the assumption that current assets remain changed.<br /> <br /> Rs. In lakh <br /> 2008-092009-10Current Assets231202.002134.26Fixed Assets342467.004528.31Total Assets573669.006662.57Current Liabilities201312.001453.31Current Assets/Total Assets (% age)40.3047.13Current Liabilities/Total Assets (% age) 35.0921.81<br />RATIO ANALYSIS:<br /> LIQUIDITY RATIO:<br /> Liquidity ratio shows the firm’s short term solvency and its ability to pay off the liabilities. It has been devised to keep a track of their firm’s exposure the risk that it will not be able to meet its short term obligations. It provides a quick measure of liability of the firm by establishing a relationship between its current assets and its current liabilities.<br />Some of the liquidity ratio:<br />a) Current ratio:<br />The current ratio gives the margin by which the value of the current assets may go down without creating and payments the firms. The total current assets include prepaid expenses and short term investments. Whereas the current liability includes all types of liability which will mature for payments within a period of one year e.g. bank overdraft, bills payable, trade creditor, outstanding etc. <br />The current ratio is compared with the standard ratio of two times for 2: 1 <br />b) Quick ratio / Acid test ratio / Liquid ratio:<br />This ratio establishes relationship between quick current assets and current liabilities. A current assets is considered to be liquid if it I convertible into cash without loss of time and value. Therefore<br />Liquid assets = currents assets – (inventory + prepaid expenses)<br />Generally a quick ratio of 1:1 is considered to be satisfactory because this mean that the quick assets of the firm are just equal to the quick liability and there has not been seen to be a possibility of default in payments by the firm.<br />c) Net Working Capital Ratio:<br />It indicates the firms’ potential reservoir of fund.<br />Net Working Capital Ratio= Net Working Capital/ Net Assets<br />ACTIVITY / TURNOVER / PERFORMANCE RATIO:<br />It is measure of movement and thus indicates as to how frequently an account has moved over during a period. It shows as to how efficiently and effectively the assets of the firm are being utilized. These ratios are usually calculated with references to sales / cost of goods sold and its expressed in terms of rate or times.<br />a) Working capital turnover ratio:<br />The WCT ratio studies the velocity or utilization of the working capital of the firm during a year. The WC here refers to the net working capital which is equal to the total current assets less total current liabilities.<br />The higher the WCT ratio the lower is the investment in the working capital and higher would be the profitability. A high WCT ratio reflects the better utilization of the WC of the firm. However, a high WCT ratio implies a low net working capital in relation to the sales volume and therefore implies over trading by the firm in relation to its net WC.<br />b) Fixed assets turnover ratio:<br />This ratio shows the contribution of average fixed assets to net sales. Higher the ratio better will be the sales per unit of fixed assets.<br />FA turnover ratio = (net sales) / average fixed assets <br />c) Capital turnover ratio:<br />Capital turnover ratio = (net sales) / average capital employed.<br /> <br />II. Ratio Analysis Calculations (2008–09)<br />Liquidity position:<br />a) Current ratio:<br />Current assets = Rs. 2134.26 crore<br />Current liability = Rs 1453.31 crore<br />Current ratio = current assets / current liabilities<br /> = 2134.26 / 1453.31<br /> = 1.47 times<br /> <br /> b) Quick Ratio:<br />Inventory = Rs. 1583.10 crore<br />Quick ratio = (total CA – inventory) /total current liabilities<br />= [2134.26 – 1583.10]/1453.31<br />= (551.16)/ 1453.31<br />= 0.38 times<br />c) Net Working Capita Ratio:<br />Net Working Capital = 680.95<br />Total Assets = Fixed Assets + Current Assets =4528.31+ 2134.26 =6662.57<br />Net Assets = Total Assets - Current Liabilities = 6662.57-1453.31=5209.26<br />Net Working Capital Ratio= Net Working Capital/ Net Assets<br /> =680.95 /5209.26<br /> =0.13<br />Activity Ratio:<br />a) Capital turnover ratio:<br />Net sales = Rs. 10414.35crore<br />Working capital = total CA – Total CL<br />= Rs. 680.95 crore<br />Net capital employed = Net block + working capital<br />= 2276.26 + 680.95<br />= Rs. 2957.21 crores<br />Capital turnover Ratio = net sales / net capital employed<br />= 10414.35/ 2957.21<br />= 3.52 times<br />b) Working capital turnover ratio:<br />Net sales = Rs. 10414.35crore<br />Working capital = Rs. 680.95<br />Working capital turnover ratio = net sales / W.C<br /> = 10414.35/ 680.95<br /> = 15.29 times<br />c) Fixed turnover ratio:<br />Net sales = Rs. 10414.35crore<br />Net fixed assets = RS. 4528.31<br />Fixed turnover ratio = Net sales / net fixed assets<br /> = 10414.35/4528.31<br /> = 2.30 times<br />YEAR2008-092009-10CURRENT RATIO1.151.47QUICK RATIO0.280.38NET WORKING CAPITAL RATIO0.080.13CAPITAL TURNOVER RATIO4.663.52WORKING CAPITAL TURNOVER RATIO39.6715.29FIXED TURNOVER RATIO3.462.30<br />Interpretation<br />Current ratio with respect to previous year, current ratio is positive.it shows better position of current assets over current liabilities, and it is going towards the standard current ratio which is 2:1<br />Quick ratio: With respect to previous year it also shows better position.Its standard is 1:1.It increased from last year which shows better financial position of BSL Plant for Current financial requirement.<br />With respect to previous year W C Ratio shows the positive sign , It indicates, since:-<br />(a)working capital is used for smooth running of the organistion.<br />(b)for meeting rutine requirements of the organization easily.<br />(c) for fulfillment of future quick requirements of the organization.<br />(d)It shows the strength of the organization <br />And increasing working capital shows better strength of BSL Plant.<br />Capital turnover is calculated with respect to turnover and current year’s turnover is 10414.35 and last year’s turnover is 10462.79.So it is not in better position.<br />Working Capital turnover Ratio is Calculated with respect of turnover ,as turnover of current year is decreased so this ratio is negative.<br /> <br />ROLE OF STORE & PURCHASE DEPTT. IN PURCHASING PROCESS<br />The most important function of public procurement is to maintain transparency which not only ensure a level of playing field to the suppliers/ contractors but also result in qualitative improvement in material/ services received due to increased competition. <br /> CMO (Central Marketing Organization) places an order with specification to Bokaro Steel Plant as per demand. Now inside plant, Production Planning Control & Sales Co-ordination department makes production planning for different department. <br />Raising Of Indents or MPR<br />Now according to production planning, the indents for purchase of materials called MPR (Material Purchase requisition) shall be raised by the department(s) concerned or designated centralized agencies. These Indents shall be prepared in the prescribed format (to be designed by each Plant/ Unit). The indent shall be signed by the Head of the Department (HOD). The Plant/ Unit shall devise a proper system of numbering the Indents initially and their processing reference at different stages to facilitate cross reference. Suitable Index registers shall also be maintained for such numbering/ references at different stages for control purposes.<br /> <br />It will be the prime responsibility of the Indentor to prepare judicious estimate of the current value of the Indent. The Indentor shall take the help of Engineering Services and other Centralized Agencies, if so required, for the preparation of judicious estimate using scientific/ technical methods. The estimated value of each and every item to be procured/each and every item of work to be executed will be filled in the appropriate column in the indent. The detailed estimate signed by the Head of the Indenting Department will be enclosed with the indent.<br />The names of the suggested registered manufacturers/ suppliers/ traders/ contractors, as the case may be, may be indicated by the Indentor in the Indent on the basis of past experience of parties along with order references, if any.<br />In case, it is desired to split the order on more than one of the above, the Indentor shall specify so in the Indent giving the maximum number of suppliers/ contractors desired to be engaged, justifying the reasons for the same. In such case, a minimum of X+2 offers should have been received (‘X’ is the number of supplier/ contractor on whom order is to be placed) during opening of the tenders. The dealing executive will inform the Tender Opening Cell, the minimum number of offers required in each case. In case of 2/3 part quotation, for opening the price bids, there should be minimum X+2 techno-commercially acceptable offers in all cases provided that:<br />In case of open/ global tenders, if less than the specified (X + 2) numbers of offers are received; same can be processed without going for re-tender/ TOD Extension with the approval of the authority one stage higher than the authority competent to approve the enquiry proposal or Chief Executive.<br />In case of LTE, if less than specified X + 2 numbers of offers are received in the first attempt, a second attempt may be made by inclusion of new venders or extension of due date if there is no scope of adding new vendors. In case adequate number (X + 2) of offers are not obtained even in response to the second attempt, the offers received shall be processed with the approval of the authority, one stage higher than the authority competent to approve the enquiry proposal. Where the approving authority of Enquiry proposal is the Chief Executive of the Plant/ Unit, the approving authority for processing the case where offers received are less than X + 2 shall also be the Chief Executive of Plants/ Units, who shall have full powers to approve such proposals.<br />In case there are certain quantifiable factors required to be considered/ loaded while evaluating the prices quoted by the tenderers, such factors in clear quantifiable terms should be mentioned in the Indent by the Indentor.<br />In case the tenderers are required to submit samples along with the quotation, the same should be clearly mentioned in the Indent itself. However, no sample should be called for the items for which detailed/standard specifications are available. For procurement of clothing and textile items detailed specifications may be mentioned & no sample shall be called. However, if required, provision for submission of an advance sample by successful bidder(s) may be stipulated for indeterminable parameters such as, shade/tone, size, make-up, feel, finish and workmanship, before giving clearance for bulk production of the supply.<br />The Indents for purchase of material shall be scrutinized by the Screening Committee constituted by the Competent Authority for the nature of the items concerned, comprising the representatives of the related departments such as Centralized Maintenance, Central Workshop, Indentor, MM Deptt., Finance, etc. The executives nominated for the Screening Committee shall be in the rank of E-5 and above. The Screening Committee shall scrutinize the Indent within a week of the receipt by it.<br />Scrutiny of indents:<br />In case of computer generated indents of automatic procurement (AP) items, based on the re-order level, screening is not required by the Screening Committee.<br />Indents value below Rs. 5 Lacs, covering the annual requirement (excluding<br />Proprietary items and Non-Proprietary STE items) need not be scrutinized by the screening committee and shall be cleared by the Head of Indenting department for further processing by the MM Deptt.<br />The scrutinized Indent, found complete in all respects, shall be sent to the MM Deptt/ Contract Cell after obtaining approval of the Competent Authority.<br />On receipt of the Indent by the MM Deptt./ Contract Cell, an entry will be made in the Indent Register/Computer and a case-file opened. While processing the indent for tendering, if any discrepancy is found, the MM Deptt./ Contract Cell shall return the indent to the Screening Committee/ Indentor for compliance/ clarification by either Screening Committee or by Indentor, on such discrepancies.<br />Considering the nature of item / job, its value / cost involved, knowledge of suppliers/ contractors, prevailing market scenario, etc., the mode of tendering for indent value Rs. 5 Lacs and above shall be suggested by the respective Screening Committee and for indents valuing below Rs.5 Lacs, covering the annual requirement (excluding Proprietary items and Non-Proprietary STE items) need not be scrutinized by the screening committee and shall be cleared by the Head of Indenting department, the mode of tendering shall be suggested by the MM Deptt./ Contract Cell., for approval of Competent Authority.<br />Mode of Tendering<br />After screening process is complete, Purchase department will now issue a purchase order.<br />The recommended modes of tendering for placement of orders are as under:<br />Open Tender/ Global Tender,<br />Limited Tender Enquiry (LTE),<br />Single Tender for Proprietary items (Original Equipment Manufacturers). <br />Single Tender (other than Proprietary item)<br />Open/Global tender: Tender is open for everyone. Open/ Global tenders are to be considered under the following circumstances:<br />When reliable manufacturers/ suppliers/ traders/ contractors as well as latest technology are not clearly known.<br />When it is felt that advertising may elicit better response.<br />For any other commercial consideration i.e. as a policy, DOP/ estimated value of purchase/ job contract, formation of cartel/ ring like situations etc.<br />Limited tender enquiry: Tender is issued to limited parties; those were registered to Bokaro Steel Plant. LTE should be issued only when reliable manufacturers/ suppliers/ traders/ contractors are known. For this purpose, the MM Deptt./ Contract Cell shall maintain a list of registered parties<br />Single tender enquiry: Tender is issued to only one specific party because that party may enjoy monopoly.<br />Proprietary (Original Equipment Manufacturers - OEM) Enquiry: Enquiries for Proprietary items (OEM) should be issued with the approval of Competent Authority as per the DOP. Such Proprietary items should be purchased from their manufacturers or their authorized dealers only, where he manufacturer does not supply the equipment directly. In case there is more than one dealer authorized to sell a particular proprietary item, to Plant/ Units, discount may be possible through Limited Tender Enquiries, therefore LTE may be issued to the authorized dealers.<br />Single Tender Enquiry (Other than Proprietary Items): Single Tender Enquiries should be issued as an exception only. Such enquiries should be processed, after recording reasons and indenter should take approval of Chief Executives of the Plant/ Unit in all cases except procurement from PSUs/ State Government Undertakings where approval of Competent Authority shall be obtained.<br />After winning the tender supplier now sends the order as per contract, which will receive by stores department and DCR (Daily Collection Report) is issued. On DCR, an inspection is done by CRS (Central Receiving Section). After finding every thing correct CRS will issue GRN (Goods Receipt Note) to Finance department. On basis of GNR, Finance department will pay for the consignment to the supplier. <br />During purchase of raw materials reverse auction is adopted, where that party will get the tender who will meet the specification and quote the minimum price. In case of selling finished/semi-finished product forward auction is adopted, where product is selling to that party who will quote the maximum price. <br />YearInventories (in crore)Total current assets% of inventories to current assets20071365.61826.174.7820081185.51835.964.5920091755.022312.0275.87<br />Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 3: Contribution of Inventories in Total Current Assets<br />MANAGEMENT OF RECEIVABLES<br />The term receivables are defined as ‘debt owed to the firm by customers arising from sale of goods or services in the ordinary course of businesses’. Receivables management is also called trade credit management. Trade credit, the tool which as a bridge for movement of goods through production and distribution stages to customer, is a force in the present day business and an essential device. Trade credit is granted with a motive of protecting the sale from ones, competitors and attaching more of the potential customers. Trade credit is said to be extended to a customer when a firm sell its services or goods and does not receive the payment for them immediately. Thus trade credit creates receivable which refer to the amount which a firm is expected to collect in near future.<br />The book debt or receivable which arise a result of trade credit have the following features:<br />It involves a element of risk and hence should never to be fiddled with. As credit sale leave a sum to be recovered in future and future can never be the certainty, hence it is risky.<br />It is based on economic value, while for the buyer, the economic value in goods passes immediately at the time of purchase, while the seller expects an equivalent value to be received later on.<br />It represents futurity. The cash payments for the goods or services received by the buyer will be made in future.<br />The management of receivable gain more importance in the view of the fact that more than one third of the total current assets is blocked in the form of trade debtors. The interval between the date of sale and the date of payment is financed by working capital. Thus trade debtors represent the investment. As substantial amount are tied up as trade credit hence it requires careful analysis and proper management.<br />Goals Of Management Of Receivables<br />As all other aspects of management, this also aims at the maximization of wealth by a beneficial trade off between liquidity risk and profitability. The main aim of management is not to maximize sales or minimize bad debt risk but in a way it is to expand sale to the extent that the bad debt risk remained within the limits. So in a effort to maximize the wealth, the goals of management of receivable are:<br />To obtain optimum value of sales<br />To control the cost of credit and keep it to the minimum level.<br />To maintain investment in debtors at optimum level.<br />Sales maximization is not the purpose of credit management but an effective and efficient credit management helps in expanding sales and acts as a marketing tool. A good and well administered credit means profitable credit accounts.<br />In order to maximize the wealth of the firm, the cost involved in the credit and its management has to be controlled within the acceptable limits. These costs can brought to zero level but that would adversely affect the sales, therefore the objective should be to kept receivable to the minimum level. A dynamic credit policy and its management will help to optimize the sale at a minimum cost.<br />Debtors involve funds, which have an opportunity cost. Therefore the investment in debtors should be never be excessive. Extending liberal credit pushes the sale and results in higher profitability but the increase in level of investment in debtors result in increased cost. Thus we are to bring the investment at a optimum level by doing trade off between the costs and benefits. The level of debtors to a large extent depends on external factors such an industry norms, level of activity, seasonal variations etc. But there are lot of internal factors which affects the firm’ credit policy. These factors include credit terms, standard, limits and collection procedures. The internal factors should be well administered to optimize the investment in debtors.<br />Optimum Credit Policy<br />The whole set of decision variables that affects the investment in receivable is termed as credit policy. Generally, we can divide the credit policy into two types<br />Lenient Credit Policy<br />Stringent Credit Policy<br />The firms following Lenient Credit Policy tend to sell on credit to its customers very readily, without even knowing the credit worthiness of the customers. The firms with lenient credit policy will have more sales and higher profits. But they can also incur high bad debts losses and face the problem of liquidity. The firm which follows Stringent Credit policy are very selective in extending credit, and credit is extended to those customer only whose credit worthiness is well proven. These firms follow tight credit standards and terms as a result, minimize cost and chances of bad debts.<br />The stringent credit policy never poses the problem of liquidity but restrict the sale and profit margins.<br />Extension of credit increases the sale of the firm. The number of customers purchasing the firm’s goods and services increases as it makes its credit policy liberal. If the cost do not increase at a greater rate, the increased revenue will increase the profit of the firm. As a consequence, the market value of firm’s share will rise.<br />The extent to which the sales will be affected by pursuing a particular credit policy can not be gauged with accuracy. Sales forecast with respect to a particular credit policy can be made with regards to prevailing economic condition. However, cost benefit analysis has to be done in order to anticipate the acceptability of a credit policy.<br />Credit extension involves cost, the incurred cost can be of many types such as bad debt losses, production and selling costs, administrative expenses, cash discounts, opportunity cost etc.<br />Bad debt losses are incurred when a firm is unable to collect the book debts. Bad debt losses are more if the credit policy is lenient. This never means that a company should its credit policy, in case the profit generated by additional sales are more than corresponding costs the firm should surely go in for credit policy relaxation.<br />The additional sales resulting from the relaxed credit policy will increase the production and selling costs. Only the incremental production or selling costs should be estimated. Similarly, the expenses incurred in the administration of credit should be included in the costs of extending credit. The cost of administration generally includes the credit supervision costs and collection costs. Again, these costs will be nil if the credit policy simply utilize the idle capacity of the credit department.<br />The opportunity cost is the cost of foregone profits of the amount blocked as trade credit to customers in order to sustain or increase sales. As a result of the funds tied up in credit accounts often the firms have to go in for credit from banks in order to sustain their operations.<br />In order to collect the trade credits at an early date, often cash discounts have to be extended. As a result of these cash discounts firms are not in a position to collect the remuneration for their sales in full. This is essentially a tool to bring the trade credit to an optimum level.<br />Aspects of Credit Policy:<br />The important aspects of credit policy should be identified before establishing an optimum credit policy. The important decision variables of the credit policy are:<br />Credit Terms: Credit terms are the conditions or stipulations under which the firm extends credit. The terms and conditions can be clubbed according to the period for which they are extended and according to the amount of discount offered thereby there are two important components of trade credit namely cash period and cash discounts. Credit terms can be effectively used as a tool to boost sales. The most desirable credit terms which increases the overall profitability of the firm, should be offered to the customers cost benefit trade off between credit terms should be done to choose the best one. If the action of relaxation of the credit terms is followed by the competitors. Then the firm may have to pay instead of gaining anything.<br />The time duration for which the credit is extended to the customers is referred to as credit period. Usually the credit period of the firm is governed by the industry norms, but firms can extend credit duration to stimulate its sales. If the firm’ bad debts build up, it may tighten up its credit policy as against the industry norms.<br />Cash discounts are the offer made by the firm to customer to pay less if the required amount is paid earlier. The cash discount terms indicate the rate of discount and the period for which discount has been offered. If the customer does not avail this offer, he is expected to make the payment by the due date.<br />Credit Standards: The credit standards followed by the firm have an impact on sales and receivable. The sales and receivable levels are likely to be high if the credit standards of the firm are relatively loose. In contrast, if the firm has relatively tight credit standards, the sales and receivable are expected to be low. The credit standards are governed by various aspects such as the willingness of customer to pay, the ability of customer to pay in the economic conditions etc. <br />Collection Policy: The need to collect the payments early gave rise to a policy regarding it, called as the collection policy. It aims at the speed recovery from slow payers and reduction of bad debts losses. The firm has to very cautious while it goes in for collection from slow payers. The various aspects such as willingness, capabilities, and external conditions should be taken care of before you go in collection procedure. The optimum collection policy will maximize the profitability and will be consistent with the objective of maximizing the value of the firm.<br />FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND RATIO ANALYSIS<br />WORKING CAPITAL STATUS OF BSLRs. LakhsPARTICULARS2005-062006-072007-082008-09(A) CURRENT ASSETSCASH & BANK BALANCES3790410844004660RAW MATERIALS25621251131682828811STORES &SPARE PARTS34129378464679854047FINISHED/SEMI-FINISHED PRODUCTS76806777905494892644SUNDRY DEBTORS1251895774903LOANS & ADVANTAGES39118390905874549296OTHER CURRENT ASSETS189614021095841TOTAL182611186244183588231202(B) CURRENT LIABILITIES & PROVISIONSSUNDRY CREDITORS30572325074326845387SECURITIES & OTHER DEPOSITES42916768236913189ADVANCES RECEIVED24272568104042789OTHER LIABILITIES38824382043570628049PROVISIONS (EXCLUDING PROVISIONS FOR VRS, GRATUITY & ACCUMULATED LEAVES)9482915160254111898TOTAL8559689198152001201312WORKING CAPITAL (A-B)97015970463158729890INCREASE/DECREASE IN WORKING CAPITAL OVER PREVIOUS YEAR4456631-65459-1697NOTE:-ITEMS ON CAPITAL ACCOUNT HAVE BEEN EXCLUDED<br />Figure SEQ Figure ARABIC 4: Four year comparative studies between current assets, current liabilities and working capital of Bokaro Steel Plant<br />Similarly, risk will decrease because of the lower level of current liabilities on the assumption that current assets remain changed.<br /> <br /> Rs. In lakh