After almost three years of hectic parleys, the Uttar Pradesh government’s painstaking efforts to get some decent buyers for the loss-making UP Sugar Corporation (UPSC) mills under its disinvestment policy seem to have finally borne fruit.
Out of the 10 companies that had submitted technical bids for the 11 operating sugar mills that were put on the block in the first phase, three companies have submitted financial bids for 10 mills. There was, however, no bid for one mill.
The 11 mills that have been put up for disinvestment are Amroha, Bijnore, Bulandshahr, Chandpur, Jarwal Road, Khadda, Mohiuddinpur, Rohanakalan, Saharanpur, Sakhotitanda and Siswabazar.
According to department insiders, the three companies which have evinced interest in the process are Wave Industries, PBS Foods and Indian Potash Limited. ?Bids for four of the mills are above the expected value, three mills have received single bids and three mills have received bids that are slightly above 50% of the expected value. The 11 th mill (Mohiuddinpur) did not find any takers,? said an industry official requesting anonymity.
The mills that received bids more than the expected value are Chandpur, Amroha, Siswabazar and Khadda. The expected price of these are 83.35 crore, 16.70 crore, 32.55 crore and 20.07 crore respectively.
It may be mentioned that the combined reserve price of all the 11 mills put on the block in the first phase was around Rs 650 crore.
However, what is interesting is that while the process of disinvestment, which was a challenge for the entire state government machinery for the last three years, has now inched close to a respectable culmination, there suddenly seems to be no hurry on the part of the state government to close the deal.
While the core committee of secretaries has examined the bids and already submitted its findings, the State Cabinet, which has to give its final stamp of approval on the sell-off, has not yet met to do so even a fortnight after the bids were opened.