Govt revives plan to sell Cement Corporation units, India
The Indian government is actively pursuing its plan to put seven non-functional units of Cement Corporation of India up for sale and invest the proceeds into three financially viable public sector cement units. This is despite the recommendations of a Parliamentary Standing Committee that these units should be revived through joint ventures or leased out to private producers.
“Some of these units are located in prime locations in Delhi and Karnataka and private players had evinced interest in taking them over,” said an official with the ministry of heavy industries, adding that the sale of these seven units could fetch the government an estimated INR1500 crore.
However, the ministry is not too keen to attempt a revival of these units as experience has shown that revival of dilapidated units does not reap any benefit in the long-run. In 2008 the government had planned to sell six units of Cement Corporation and had appointed IFCI Ltd as consultants for the sale. But the process was put on hold following opposition from political parties and trade unions. Published under Cement News
