Government receives multiple EoIs for privatisation of NINL

Government has received multiple expressions of interest for privatisation of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL). Today was the last day for submission of the bid. With this, the transaction moves ahead to the second stage, on schedule.

Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Secretary, Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) today in a tweet said, "Multiple expressions of interest received for privatisation of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd.(NINL). The transaction moves ahead to the second stage, on schedule."

In January last year, the Cabinet had approved strategic disinvestment of equity shareholding of MMTC (49.78 per cent), NMDC (10.10 per cent), MECON (0.68 per cent), BHEL (0.68 per cent), IPICOL (12.00 per cent) and OMC (20.47 per cent) in NINL.

NINL is jointly owned by Central and state PSUs with MMTC, IPICOL, NMDC, OMC, as major shareholders. The government in January had invited EOI for disinvestment of 93.71 per cent stake in NINL to a strategic buyer, to be identified through a two-stage auction procedure. A long steel products unit, NINL has a 1.1 million tone Integrated Iron and steel plant at Kalinganagar, Duburi, Dist-Jajpur, Orissa.

Presently, the main products are pig iron and LAM coke along with nut coke, coke breeze, crude tar, ammonium sulphate and granulated slag (phase – I). The envisaged products in future (phase-II) are billets, bars and wire rods of different grades and sizes. NINL has its captive power plant to meet the internal power requirement. NINL is also exporting a substantial quantity of power. NINL is having own captive iron ore mines which are under development.

The process of privatisation of Air India, BPCL, Pawan Hans, BEML and Shipping Corp has also moved to the second stage after the government received multiple expressions of interest (EoI) for these CPSEs.

For 2021-22, the government has set a disinvestment target of Rs 1.75 lakh crore, over five times what it is aiming to raise in the current financial year. In the Revised Estimates, the target has been set at Rs 32,000 crore for the current fiscal. So far this fiscal, the government has netted Rs 32,835 crore through minority stake sale in CPSEs and share buybacks.