NEW DELHI: The centre has annulled, after tepid response from bidders, the expression of interest (EoI) for disinvestment of the Salem Steel Plant. The EoI for the strategic disinvestment of the TN plant, a unit of the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), was floated by the centre in 2019.
“Multiple EoIs had been received and bidders were shortlisted. However, due to lack of interest of shortlisted bidders to proceed further with the transaction, Government of India, with the approval of Alternative Mechanism (Empowered Group of Ministers), has decided to annul the current EoI thereby terminating the present transaction,” a government notification said.
Notably, in 2019, the privatisation of the Alloys Steels Plant (ASP) in Durgapur was halted, and in 2022, the sale of the Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) in Bhadravati, Karnataka, was called off due to a lack of interest from bidders. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs had approved the strategic sale of these three units of SAIL in 2018.
Centre and state had differed on strategic sale of steel plant
Sail invited global Expressions of Interest (EoIs) for the sale of the units, received multiple EoIs, and shortlisted bidders. T he centre and the Tamil Nadu government had differences over the disinvestment of the Salem plant and the former had requested the state to facilitate investors’ visit to the property with proper security.
The government aims to raise Rs 51,000 crore through disinvestment and strategic sale in the current fiscal year, but so far, only Rs 10,052 crore has been generated. S alem Steel Plant, a special steels unit of the SAIL pioneered the supply of wider width stainless steel sheets/coils in India.
The plant can produce austenitic, ferritic, martensitic & low-nickel stainless steel coils and sheets with an installed capacity of 70,000 tonnes per year in Cold Rolling Mill and 3,64,000 tonnes par year in Hot Rolling Mill. Its can produce 1,80,000 tonnes of slabs per annum. Additionally, the plant has country’s first stainless steel blanking facility with a capacity of 3,600 tonnes per year of coin and utility blanks.
