Steel Authority of India (SAIL) today said its production increased by 7 per cent in August to 1.16 million tonnes (MT).

"SAIL produced 1.16 MT of crude steel recording a growth of 7 per cent in August 2012 over the corresponding period of last year... This assumes added significance considering the fact that world over the production levels have stagnated for last couple of months," it said in a statement.

The company, however, did not provide comparative figures for the corresponding month of last year.

Month-on-month basis, the company's production has however gone down little bit as it had produced 1.2 MT in July.

In August, its blast furnace productivity, a critical parameter of production efficiency, was up by 9 per cent last month over performance in August, 2011.

During April-August, SAIL produced 5.65 MT, up 3 per cent over the same period of last fiscal, the company said.