Sci Rejects Scindia Takeover Proposal

The Shipping Corporation of India (SCI) has rejected the proposal to take over the ailing Scindia Steam Navigation Company (SSNC) and convert it into a wholly owned subsidiary of the corporation.

The public sector unit has communicated its decision, an interim one, in a recent letter to the Ministry of Surface Transport. SCIs decision was based on two counts. First, Scindia was a shipping company without a ship as it had recently sold off its last ship, M V Jalatapi.

Second, as the corporation is not in the real estate business, it is not interested in Scindias Rs 334 crore worth property.

The SCI decision virtually sounds the death knell to the revival proposal mooted by the Scindia Employees Union (SEU). However, the corporation is likely to take a final decision only after a complete independent valuation of Scindias real estate.

Government sources, however, said SCI was unlikely to change its stand.

SEU had submitted a proposal to SCI to convert SSNC into a 100 per cent subsidiary in March, 1997. The union had suggested that the subsidiary be split into three divisions: shipping, real estate and finance. It had also proposed that SCIs shipping operations like agency network, stevedoring activities, and coastal trade be transferred to the shipping division after the merger.