Kozhikode was also a venue for Centre-state partnership. Here, a sick steel unit was battling for life. The state-owned Steel Complex Limited (SCL) signed an MoU with Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) for floating a joint venture to produce TMT steel bars. The joint venture envisaged 50:50 equity partnership between SAIL and SCL.

The venture would see SAIL pumping Rs 300 crore into the project. Despite the burgeoning demand for iron and steel products, SCL had been so far unable to come out of red due to mismanagement. At one time, it had even faced closure threat.

For SAIL, the joint venture had come in handy, as it had been looking for a production base in south India to cater to the mounting demand for steel products in the region.

The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) has entered into an agreement with the Transformers and Electricals Kerala Limited (TELK) for manufacturing and maintenance of transformers. In the proposed venture, NTPC would have 44 per cent stake and would invest Rs 190 crore in TELK in the first phase of revamping.

Even Lalu Prasad Yadav had chugged into Kerala to help out a crisis-ridden state unit. The Indian Railways had signed an agreement with Kerala Government in June this year for a joint venture with the fabrication unit, Autocast, in Alappuzha. The new enterprise would make bogie frames for passenger coaches as well as wagons, utilising the land and other assets of Autocast. The state would clear all liabilities of Autocast and Railways would have 51 per cent stake in the company. The Railways had also zeroed in on Kerala’s Palakkad district for establishing a railway coach factory that would see an investment of Rs 4,000 crore.

... contd.