Managing national assets !
DIPAM (Department of Investment and Public Asset Management) is the old ‘Disinvestment’ wine now in a brand new bottle spiked with a radically new sales pitch !
As the name itself suggests, DIPAM now plans to ‘manage’ the vast inventory of public assets locked up in, CONCOR, Pawan Hans, CEL, VISL, SSP, NINL, and RINL. Valuable assets in technology, machinery and plant etc. are expected to yield higher returns in private hands, adding to nation’s economy and ostensibly no longer a case of ‘selling the family silver’.
CONCOR (COntainer CORporation of India), was incorporated in March 1988 under the Ministry of Railways to handle ISO (International Standards Organisation) Containers. Starting with the first terminal at Tughlakabad, over the years its has grown into an all India network of 61 terminals, of which 8 deal exclusively with EXIM (Export Import) and 17 with exclusively with domestic cargo. It earned Rs. 7216 crores in 2018-19 making it a major logistics player.
Under a Model Concession Agreement issued by Ministry of Railways in 2006 nearly a dozen private train operators have set up shop, some with their own terminals, but all accessing Indian Railway’s 65,000 kms. of network to run their own Container trains.
Understandably competition should be keen for CONCOR since some of the major logistics players would be eager to get hold of this cash rich and thriving business entity with an excellent track record and all India reach !
Pawan Hans was created in 1985 with just 2 helicopters to service ONGC’s (Oil & Natural Gas Company) drilling rig at its platform on Bombay high. Since then it has grown to 45 helicopters with regular flights to small air strips in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarkhand, Assam, and Manipur etc. Catering to the tourism sector it hopes to grow into a 100 helicopter company by 2027.
CEL (Central Electronics Ltd. ) was created in 1974 with a view to commercially exploit indigenous technologies developed by National Laboratories and R&D Institutions, and functions under the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Ministry of Science & Technology.
Some of the major lines of production are Solar Voltaic cells, Security and Surveillance devices, Piezo electric ceramics, Turn key prjects for Signalling and Axle counters for Railways. With a revenue of Rs. 160 crores in 2015 it is a facility with product lines which could do wonders in the right private hands !
VISL (Visvesaraya Iron and Steel Ltd.) at Bhadravati, Karnataka shares its vintage with Tata’s Steel Plant at Jamshedpur. Set up in 1923 by Krishnaraja Wodeyar, the then Maharaja of Mysore state, it was the brain child of Sir M. Visvesvaraya who wanted to utilise abundant iron ore deposits available in Mysore state, the present day Karnataka.
In 1962 it was renamed as The Mysore Steel and Iron Works and became a joint venture with Govt of Karnataka and Centre hoiding equity in the ratio 60:40. Later Steel making was upgraded to the L.D. Process and plant renamed as Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Ltd (VISL), finally ending up as a subsidiary of SAIL (Steel Authority of India Ltd. ) in 1998.
SSP (Salem Steel Plant) in Tamilnadu was set up in 1972 at cost of Rs 181 crores to manfacturec Stainless steel, steel strips and other mild steel products. Its installed capacity to produce 32,000 tonnes of finished steel was enhanced to 70,000 tonnes at a cost of Rs. 76 crores in 1991 and a blanking line with a capacity of 3600 tonnes was added in 1993. With a 3,64,000 tonnes per year of hot rolling mill capacity its assets are waiting to be optimally utilised.
NINL (Neelanchal Ispat Nigam Ltd) a joint venture of MMTC (Mining and Mineral Trading Corporation) and Industrial Promotion and Investment Corporation of Odisha was set up in 1982 at Kalinganagar, Duburi Odisha as an integrated iron and steel plant with an installed capacity of 1.1 million tonnes.
With its own captive iron ore mines, since 2003-04 it has become the largest exporter of pig Iron and LAM (Low Ash Metallurgical) coke
with internationally acceptable standards, Once again a facility with assets waiting to be fully exploited !
RINL (Rashtriya lspat Nigam Ltd) better known as Vijag steel with a capacity of 3 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) was set up in Vishakapatnam , Andhra Pradesh in 1972 . Its capacity was enhanced to 6.3 mtpa in 2015 and once again to 7.3 mtpa in 2017. Production reached 7.5 mpta in 2020 and plans are afoot to enhance the capacity to 20 mpta by 2027 at a cost of Rs. 60,000 crores !
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