Govt scraps sale of Salem plant; 3rd SAIL unit's privatisation put on hold

The government on Wednesday said it has decided to scrap the privatisation of SAIL's Salem Steel Plant (SSP) in Tamil Nadu.

This is the third unit of public sector major SAIL where the government has decided not to go ahead with the strategic sale. Earlier in 2019, it decided to halt the privatisation of Durgapur-based Alloys Steels Plant (ASP) while in 2022, the sale of Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP) in Bhadravati, Karnataka, was called off citing a lack of interest from bidders.

In 2018, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the strategic sale of these three units of Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL). Accordingly, global Expressions of Interest (EoIs) were invited on July 4, 2019, by SAIL for SSP.

"Multiple EoIs had been received and bidders were shortlisted. However, due to the lack of interest of shortlisted bidders to proceed further with the transaction, the Government of India, with the approval of Alternative Mechanism (Empowered Group of Ministers) has decided to annul the current EoI thereby terminating the present transaction," the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said on its website on Wednesday.

For the current fiscal, the government had budgeted to raise Rs 51,000 crore through CPSE disinvestment and strategic sale. So far, it has been able to mop up Rs 10,052 crore.