By Our Correspondent
NEW DELHI/BHUBANESWAR: With Big players like JSW Steel, Tata Steel (through Tata Steel Long Products), ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) and Vedanta-owned ESL Steel and few more are trying very hard with Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) led by Odisha cadre IAS officer , Tuhin Kanta Pandey over the disinvestment of Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Ltd, Steel Executives Federation of India (SEFI) has passed a resolution opposing the move. The copy of the resolution of which is available with www.indianewsdiary.com.
“Resolution for merger of PSU steel units is passed in SEFI meeting & proposed to Govt. Save NINL by merging with SAIL/RINL/NMDC as employees are not paid for last 11 months#JusticeForNINLEmployees#SAVENINL@PMOIndia@CMO_Odisha@dpradhanbjp@PiyushGoyal,” NINL_Executives tweeted @NINL_Executives.
Council meeting of Steel Executives Federation of India (SEFI) held , at New Delhi, was attended by representatives of Officers Association of SAIL (Bokaro, Bhillai, Rourkela, Durgapur, Burnpur, Salem, Bhadravati, Chandrapur, CMO, RMD, Ranchi, Steel Executives’ Association, RINL Visakhapatnam, Officers Association of NINL, Jajpur and NSOA unanimously passed this resolution.
“A single Mega Steel Unit be formed by merging, steel plants of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) & its subsidiary units with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd and its subsidiary company, Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Ltd, NMDC (both steel plant and mining sector) and MECON under the Ministry of Steel. This Mega Steel merger is also inline with the recommendations of Parliament Committee for PSUs submitted in the month of March 2013 shall be able to expand further steel capacities. This shall greatly help to realize the targets of National Steel Policy of 300 MTPA steel capacity by 2030-31. Each of steel units has its strengths and weaknesses, but merger of them into a single unit would help them to synergize their strengths and turn the weaknesses into opportunities and overall benefits to the Nation. Steel being an essential component in the growth rate and contributes heavily to the GDP of our country, it should be kept under Strategic Sector of the Nation,” it said.
The move of SEFI which was supported by NINL Executive Association, may hinder the move of Union Finance and Corporate Affairs Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as well as Union Steel-PNG Minister Dharmendra Pradhan and Union Commerce, Industry and Railways Minister Piyush Goyal, major stalk holders in this disinvestment process of Odisha based NINL.
Compared to some of the stressed steel assets that went under the hammer under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) since 2018, the 1.1-million tonne Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd (NINL) with its facilities in Kalinganagar, Odisha, is too small. But by the close of March 29 — the due date for submission of expression of interest (EOI) for its strategic sale — NINL had drawn interest from all the big boys of the industry, JSW Steel, Tata Steel (through Tata Steel Long Products), ArcelorMittal Nippon Steel India (AM/NS India) and Vedanta-owned ESL Steel.
Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL), a 1.1 MTPA integrated Iron & Steel Plant, set up as a joint sector unit between MMTC of Ministry of Commerce, IPICOL & OMC of Odisha ,NMDC , a PSU under Ministry of steel , BHEL,MECON and banks & financial institutions.MMTC holds majority stake of 49.78 % in NINL while Odisha Mining Corporation and Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha Ltd have 20.47 % and 12 %stakes respectively. Three other CPSUs NMDC, MECON and BHEL hold minor share in NINL.
Ajit Kumar Pradhan ,General Secretary of Neelachal Executive Association (NEA) of NINL, said that the Government should reconsider the decision of disinvestment of NINL and keep or merge all the assets of NINL under or with any steel sector PSUs other than MMTC( who had unilaterally announced for divestment of 49.78 % share on Dt: 27.06.2019) such as SAIL/RINL/NMDC or any conglomeration thereof since most of the shareholders are either State or Central PSUs who are in the business of mines and steel making and may pass any other order(s) as it may deem fit and proper. Pradhan also threatened to move to Supreme Court if any tangible results not come.
