Hoping to rake in anything between Rs 3,000-4,800 crore, the National Textile Corporation (NTC) today said it would sell around 60 acres of prime mill land in Mumbai within a year.
The state-owned firm would utilise the proceeds to part- finance its Rs 9,102-crore expansion, diversification and modernisation programme, Chairman and Managing Director K Ramachandran Pillai said.
"We have nine mills in prime areas of Mumbai in and around Worli, Lower Parel and Prabhadevi. The total area of these mills is around 60 acres. We will sell them in phases and the entire process will be completed within a year," Pillai said.
The price of land in these areas of the country's financial capital could be in the range of Rs 50-80 crore per acre, he said, adding, however, that it would all depend upon the size and location of the mills.
Going by the previous experience of the firm, the mill lands might fetch NTC even more money. In 2005, a NTC mill-land at Worli was sold at 274 per cent over and above the reserve price.
"We take advice from leading real estate consultants for selling of the land and this time too there will be no exception. We will issue tenders and the highest bidder will get the land. The tendering will start from April onwards," Pillai said.
As part of the firm's modernisation programme, NTC had identified 24 mills for upgradation and has completed the work on 18 of them with an investment of Rs 800 crore.
"We will go for further modernisation depending on resource generation through the sale of assets. We have taken the in-principle decision. The investment towards this is yet to be earmarked," Pillai said, adding that the three new plants of the company would be up and running in the next financial year.
