(FE)
Steel Authority of India (SAIL) has extended the deadline to August 20 for submission of expressions of interest (EoIs) from potential bidders for outright sale of its three loss-making units — Alloy Steel Plant (ASP), Salem Steel Plant (SSP) and Visvesaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP).
Sources said the extension had been granted, from August 1 earlier, due to investors’ apathy towards buying out those three units which had incurred a cumulative loss of `2,300 crore in the past five years. SAIL had attempted outright sales of these units even in 2017, but that did not fructify for want of buyers.
ASP, SSP and VSP are located in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, respectively. These three units have a total of 2,100 permanent employees. SAIL had proposed to transfer these units to winning bidders, to be chosen through a competitive bidding process, on a going concern basis by way of slump sale through business transfer agreement. The proceeds may not contribute much to the government’s `1.05-lakh crore disinvestment target for the current fiscal.
