Centre plans PSU land sale worth more than Rs 600 crore via e-bidding

Parcels worth more than Rs 600 crore may be sold via new platform

The Centre is planning to sell land parcels worth more than Rs 600 crore of some public sector undertakings (PSUs) through its new online bidding platform as it looks to push the sale of idle assets. The initiative, managed by the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam), will be similar to the pipeline of core assets created for monetisation by the NITI Aayog.

Dipam is soon going to seek final approval to put land assets of BSNL, MTNL, BEML, and Shipping Corporation of India (SCI), among others, on the block. This will be the first sale of assets through the new e-bidding platform developed by state-run MSTC.

The pipeline of land assets, which are free from any litigation, has been prepared after discussions with consultants appointed by Dipam, an official said. More assets will be added for bidding through the portal.

The exercise is underway as the government looks to put idle land parcels of state-owned entities to use and realise their value. The effort is on the lines of the National Monetisation Pipeline (NMP -- where the government aims to monetise underutlised assets), but would only include non-core assets. Unlike the NMP, however, the ownership of assets will be transferred in the case of PSU land sale.

The pipeline will also include land assets of large PSUs that have been put on the block for privatisation, whose non-core assets need to be hived off before the disinvestment process, the official said. The government is looking to monetise land parcels worth Rs 10,000 crore through the new e-bidding platform, another official said.

CBRE South Asia, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India, Boston Consulting Group, JLL Property Consultants (India), Knight Frank India were among the consultants empanelled by Dipam to help prepare the list. These consultants have also prepared the request for proposal (RFP) and other documents for the sale of assets, the official said. The valuation of the first batch of land assets has also been done by the empanelled consultants, besides fixing the reserve price.

To participate in the bidding process, buyers will have to register on the e-bidding platform.

To check the platform’s preparedness, demonstrations have been conducted by Dipam. “The platform is ready to hold such auctions, and only final approval is awaited,” the official said.

As the first sale would involve only “clean” or litigation-free assets, Dipam is simultaneously working on setting up a new special purpose vehicle (SPV) that will be tasked with selling litigation-marred land assets of PSUs and government departments. The SPV will have experienced professionals who would help PSUs in disposing of their surplus land assets stuck in dispute or having issues with regard to land titles.