'Orissa project crucial for cutting down raw material imports'.

(From Business Line)

Byline: Latha Venkatraman

Mumbai, April 21 - JINDAL Stainless has ended the 2003-04 fiscal on a robust note. The company expects to sustain its topline growth primarily on continuing strong demand for stainless steel, Mr Arvind Parakh, Director (Finance), told Business Line. Excerpts:

A comment on your full year performance that just ended.

This has been one of the best years for the steel industry. We have been able to grow much more than the market. In the last five years, our topline has grown by 20-25 per cent even as the market was in a negative phase.

We have been able to grow our exports and capture markets. Our domestic market is also growing. The other major factor that helped us was the decline in interest costs.

Most companies had high interest costs of …