PPCL, a major producer of Single Super Phosphate (SSP), had been suffering losses for the last few years and was referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) on November 1999.

The Disinvestment Commission had recommended the closure of the company's Dehradun unit and also suggested that its Amjhore and Saladipura units should be sold to strategic buyers.

The fertiliser department is optimistic that the decision on the strategic sale of the two units would be taken soon.

The Krishak Bharati Cooperative Ltd (Kribhco), which has shown interest in taking over the Amjhore unit, has employed the services of ICICI to carry out a detailed study of the unit. Operations at the Amjhore unit were suspended in April 1999.

The fertiliser department, which wants a profit making PSU unit to take over the operations of the Amjhore unit, is awaiting Kribhco's response.

Meanwhile, the government has already decided to hand over the operational control of PPCL's Saladipura unit to Indian Potash Ltd on a wet lease basis.

Operations at the Saladipura unit have also stand suspended.

However, the BIFR has directed PPCL to seek its permission before handing over the Saladipura unit to IPL. The permission from BIFR is still awaited.

It is very important that operations at the two units start soon as the units had been supplying good quality SSP to farmers in Bihar, Rajasthan and parts of Uttar Pradesh. Due to suspension of operations, SSP supply to the states has suffered.