The government has approved the disinvestment and an initial public offer (IPO) of Bharat Pumps and Compressors, a public sector company that supplies process pumps, gas compressors and gas cylinders to Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), GAIL and Indian Oil Ltd (IOL).

“Once the company earns profit, it would be listed through an IPO and induction of strategic partner may be done with disinvestments of equity up to 49 per cent,” says a document of the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises.

The government also approved a revival package for the Rs 144 crore company. On Monday, a government team led by Santosh Mohan Dev, minister for heavy industries and public enterprises, and Murli Deora, minister for petroleum and natural gas, announced the revival package while on a visit to the manufacturing facility of Bharat Pumps and Compressors in

Allahabad.

The package includes a cash infusion of Rs 20 crore by Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and Rs 150 crore by Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, a waiver of outstanding liabilities of Rs 150 crore and restructuring of the board of directors by including professionals from Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation and Engineers India Ltd. Deora also announced that public enterprises in the petroleum sector would give purchase preference to Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL).

Bharat Pumps and Compressors, one of the six subsidiary companies of Bharat Yantra Nigam Ltd, provides services that cater to the needs of oil exploration and exploitation, refineries and the power sector. It is also the country’s only manufacturer of carbonate and ammonia pumps for fertiliser plants, mud pumps and cement pumping units, but operates only at 21.5 per cent of installed capacity for compressors and pumps and 29.48 per cent for gas cylinders.

... contd.