Govt invites Expression of Interest from bidders for IMPCL strategic sale

The government on Thursday invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from bidders by October 15 for strategic sale of Indian Medicines Pharmaceutical Corporation Ltd (IMPCL).

The Government of India holds a 98.11 per cent stake in IMPCL, under the administrative control of the Ministry of Ayush. The remaining 1.89 per cent is held by Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam Ltd (KMVNL), an undertaking of the Government of Uttarakhand.

"The Government of India intends to disinvest its entire stake in IMPCL through strategic disinvestment with transfer of management control. The KMVNL ...has expressed its willingness to disinvest along with GoI," the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said.

The company is presently manufacturing 656 classical ayurvedic, 332 unani and 71 proprietary ayurvedic medicines for a varied spectrum of diseases.

It supplies ayurveda and unani medicines to all the states under the National Ayush Mission (NAM) and 6,000 centres of Jan Aushadhi Kendras.

"The price/rate of IMPCL products are fixed by the Government of India. Liberalized pricing policy post disinvestment combined with already laid down distribution network & payment collection mechanism may enable the company to compete with other market players more efficiently that may lead to increased sales and profitability," the DIPAM said.

As of March 31, 2022, the company had a paid-up share capital of Rs 51.98 crore. The total campus area of IMPCL is 35.81 acres in Almora, Uttarakhand.

IMPCL is a profit-making organisation since its inception. The Profit Before Tax (PBT) of IMPCL was Rs 42.77 lakh during FY 2019-2020, which surged to Rs 45.41 crore for 2021-2022.