New Delhi, Jan 1 (IANS): State-run Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) Chairman Anil Kumar Chaudhary on Wednesday said that the country's largest steelmaker registered a sales growth of 47 per cent in December 2019 as compared to the samne month in 2018.

The company sold 16.8 lakh tonnes of steel last month, Chaudhary said, while addressing a SAIL event here.

He noted that the company was able to record a major growth in sales bucking the overall slowdown in the sector.

"Despite the challenging steel market conditions, SAIL has exhibited resilient performance consistently and will continue to do so in future also. The company has achieved the highest ever sales in a month during December 2019. With sales of 1.68 million tonnes in December 2019, the company clocked a growth of 47 per cent over CPLY (comparative period last year)," said the Chairman.

In November, SAIL had posted a 36 per cent jump in sales, a company statement said, adding that it is consistently maintaining its growth momentum.

Referring to the supply of rails to the Indian Railways, Chaudhary said: "During the nine months of fiscal 2019-20 (April-Decembe 2019), SAIL has already reproduced 9.25 lakh tonnes of rails to the Indian Railways where the entire production of rails was 9.85 lakh tonnes during the previous financial year 2018-19".

To cater to the growing demand of the railways, SAIL is gearing up to enhance production of rails substantially, the statement added.