The panel would decide on the long-term revival plan for one of the oldest shipyards in the country. In 1998, the government had approved a short-term revival plan for the company. It has undertaken six months of revival exercise already.

The accumulated losses of the company are to the tune of Rs 100 crore. The authorised capital of the company was enhanced from Rs 20 crore as on March 1998 to Rs 25 crore on March 1999. The paid-up capital and share deposit are Rs 17.20 crore and Rs 3.65 crore, respectively.

The company, which was nationalised in 1984, is engaged in small and medium ship building. Since 1989-90, the networth of the company turned negative.Losses were mainly on account of lack of orders, obsolete technology and lack of investment in modernisation,cost-price gap in ship-building, low productivity and imbalance in manpower. The company was in the grip of acute liquidity crisis with heavy interest burden on government loan.

At one stage, the government even planned to close down the company which has units at Salkia and Nazirgunge, Howrah. But in 1998, the government decided to revive the company through a short-term revival package as submitted by the company followed up by a long-term revival plan.

Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India Ltd (ICICI) prepared a the long-term plan which would be implemented depending on the success of the earlier plan. The short-term revival plan is already being implemented.The Union government allocated Rs 17.60 crore towards additional investment for the yard for the Ninth plan period. Under the plan, the company has to build two ships - a light house support vessel and a passenger vessel for the Andaman and Nicobar administration - up to July 2000. Almost 40 per cent work on the two was completedwhen the company had to stop due to financial crisis. During the revival plan, the company has been able to finish another 10 per cent work.

The short-term plan included aggressive marketing for securing orders, expediting the process of upgrading facilities with the Plan support, computerisation, implementing ISO-9000, improving industrial relations through involvement of employees, human resource development through training of personnel, efforts to increase ship-building activity and closing down of non-remunerative production activities.