Madras Fertilisers sell-off soon

Ravi Kapoor

New Delhi, May 27: Undeterred by the controversies surrounding various issues related to privatisation, the Centre soon expects to selloff Madras Fertilisers Ltd (MFL).

Disinvestment secretary Pradip Baijal said, "We hope to privatise MFL soon and expressions of interest in this regard were called for the fertiliser PSU. We have completed the process of short-listing."

He, however, refused to divulge the names of the short-listed bidders. He also did not specify how "soon" the divestment process in the case of MFL would be complete. "I won’t hazard a guess how soon the process would be over in the case of MFL, for there are a number of factors that can impeded any divestment."

National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) holds 25.44 per cent equity in MFL, whereas the Centre has 58.74 per cent shares and the public 15.82 per cent. As per a decision of the Cabinet committee on disinvestment (CCD), the government would sell its 32.74 per cent shares in MFL to bring down its equity to 26 per cent.

The consent of NIOC is being sought for the strategic sale of MFL. "NIOC cannot veto the privatisation of MFL," Baijal said. "But I don’t think there would be any problem on that score from NIOC. In any case, we enjoy excellent relations with NIOC. I am hopeful of an earlier resolution of the issue," he added.