New Delhi: When the Centre gave green signal for disinvestment in the Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited (NINL), senior BJP leader and former Union Minister Pratap Sarangi has urged Union Minister of Commerce & Industry, Piyush Goyal for merger of the steel unit with a Central PSU.
Mr.Sarangi met Mr.Goyal here and suggested merging NINL with Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) or Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) or National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC).
“Requested Minister of Commerce & Industry Sri Piyush Goyal ji for an urgent intervention for immediate resumption of plant production by merging NINL with SAIL/RINL/NMDC/ with captive mines Operation startup with the help of NMDC,” Mr.Sarangi informed in twitter.
Meanwhile, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) Secretary Tuhin Kanta Pandey said that financial bids received for strategic disinvestment of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Limited. Process now moves to the concluding stage, he informed through twitter.
NINL is a Joint Venture company of 4 Central Public Sector Enterprises namely MMTC Limited (49.78%), NMDC Limited (10.10%), Bharat Heavy Electrical Limited (BHEL) (0.68%) and MECON Limited(0.68%) and 2 State PSUs of Odisha Government, namely, Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Orissa Ltd. (IPICOL) (12%) and Odisha Mining Corporation Limited (OMC) (20.47%).
MMTC Limited is the controlling promoter in the NINL. The Union Government on January 8, 2020 has accorded ‘in-principle’ approval for strategic disinvestment of the entire shareholding of all 4 CPSEs & 2 State PSUs shareholding (93.71%) in NINL through a single transaction.
For the disinvestment of NINL, Expression of Interest (EoI) was invited on January 25, 2021. After shortlisting of bidders and an elaborate process of due diligence, a Request for Proposal (RFP) document inviting financial bids has been issued to the Qualified Interested Bidders (QIBs).
As per a reply of Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industry Bhagwat Kishanrao Karad in Parliament, the employee-related issues of the company are within the purview of present management and promoters of NINL.
The industry has informed that outstanding dues of salary of employees up to December, 2020 have been disbursed. Further, the selling shareholders have signed a Waterfall Agreement amongst themselves for distribution of disinvestment receipts, which ranks priority for payment of various dues and liabilities of NINL, out of which dues of employees get the highest priority from the proceeds of the sale.
There are employee protection provisions in the definitive agreement to be entered by selling shareholders and successful bidder, he added.
