OMC in no hurry to get listed, keen to ramp up output

OMC currently holds leases for 11 iron ore mines, with production potential assessed at 30 mn tonne per annum

State-controlled miner Odisha Mining Corporation (OMC) said it is not in a hurry to raise money from the capital market as it is sitting on huge cash reserves. The PSU would rather focus on improving production.

“Getting listed is not on our cards. We are not keen on getting listed as we have enough money to fund our expansion plans. We would rather like to ramp up our production,” said Saswat Mishra, chairman-cum-managing director of OMC.

In August 2011, the Odisha government had announced to list its profit-making public undertakings such as OMC and Odisha Hydro Power Corporation (OHPC) on stock exchanges. But even after a year, nothing has moved so far.

“The Public Enterprises department was doing something about it (the process of getting listed) but we have not heard from them almost for a year,” said Mishra.

OMC currently holds leases for 11 iron ore mines, with production potential assessed at 30 million tonne per annum (mtpa). But due to clearances and other problems, the miner is producing only three to four mtpa of iron ore.

“We have so much problem in ramping up production due to logistic problems, clearances and other issues that it will make difficult for us to explain to our shareholders once we get listed. Perhaps, we are not yet ready to get listed,” he said.

The profit-making entity had a net profit of Rs 1,287.50 crore in 2011-12, out of its Rs 2,141.38 crore revenue during the year, as per provisional figures available at the corporation’s website. It is currently sitting on a cash reserve of nearly Rs 4,500 crore and has plans to spend around Rs 1,400 crore in modernisation of mining technologies at its key mines.

However, the miner needs to wait for some time for ramping up output as the two large iron ore mines- Daitari and Gandhamardana are yet to get forest and other clearances. The Odisha chief secretary B K Patnaik had last week instructed government departments to expedite clearance process in next six months.