PMO scraps plan to divest MSTC's subsidiary FSNL

Centre believes FSNL has no tangible assets barring machinery

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The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has agreed not to go ahead with the divestment of MSTC's arm Ferro Scrap Nigam (FSNL) as the entity has no tangible assets barring machinery, a top official said.

FSNL, under the administrative control of the Steel Ministry, undertakes disposal of ferrous and non-ferrous scrap arising from integrated steel plants under Steel Authority of India (SAIL), Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL), among others and disposal of scrap and surplus stores from other public sector units (PSUs) and government departments.

"We are removing FSNL — a subsidiary of MSTC — from disinvestment list because it does not have anything. No land. It just has [an] equipment," Steel Secretary Aruna Sharma told PTI.

MSTC is a metal scrap trading PSU. It also renders services to steel and petrochemical sectors for raw material support and provides e-commerce services.

"SAIL permits them to do the scrap sale or making its pellets as it is a PSU. So it does not make any sense for a buyer because SAIL cannot give it to a private person for conversion. So what will anybody do by taking scrap machinery," the Secretary said.

"In the last meeting that I had in PMO they all agreed that it should be removed," the Secretary said.

The Centre had earlier said that it intends to disinvest its equity, which is equivalent to 89.85 per cent of the total voting equity share capital in MSTC to a strategic investor along with management control of MSTC and its wholly owned subsidiary FSNL through a competitive bidding process.