Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers

23-November-2012 15:29 IST

The status of revival of closed/sick/loss making fertilizer PSUs is as under:

Fertilizer Corporation of India Limited (FCIL) and Hindustan Fertilizer CorporationLimited (HFCL): The status of revival of the closed units of FCIL and HFCL is as under:-

Based on the recommendation of Empowered Committee of Secretaries ECOS, Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs in its meeting held on 4.8.2011 approved the proposal for revival of closed units of FCIL and HFCL with the stipulation that Board for Industrial and Financial Restructuring (BIFR) proceedings be expedited and thereafter, the matter including changes, if any, required in bid parameters, be placed before the Committee for a final decision. Accordingly, the Draft Rehabilitation Schemes (DRS) of HFCL and FCIL have been submitted to BIFR for their approval. BIFR has appointed State Bank of India as Operating Agency for examining the DRS of HFCL and FCIL. After the approval of BIFR, the proposal shall be placed before competent authority for obtaining approval.

Madras Fertilizer Limited:-    Board for Industrial and Financial Restructuring (BIFR) in its hearing held on 2^nd April 2009 declared Madras Fertilizers Limited (MFL) a sick company and appointed State Bank of India as Operating Agency with the direction to prepare a revival scheme for the company. Eleven hearings were held so far before BIFR. In the last hearing held on 27.08.2012, the Bench directed Government of India and other equity partner to take a decision with regard to the revised option filed by the Company, and thereafter, the Operating Agency will examine the proposal and submit a DRS to the BIFR. Accordingly, based on the inputs received from the company, a revised rehabilitation proposal has been circulated for inter-ministerial consultation for formalising the view of the Government. Based on the view of Government and other equity partner, operating agency will form DRS and submit before BIFR for approval. The next hearing of BIFR is scheduled on 05.12.2012.

Brahmaputra Valley Fertilizer Corporation Limited (BVFCL) :- BVFCL has proposed for a new brown field ammonia urea plant of larger capacity with state-of- art technology at most energy efficiency at Namrup site. Agreeing in principle to the proposal, Department of Fertilizers has given clearance to appoint a consultant to evaluate the available options and recommend the most suitable one.

Loans have been waived off in respect of Madras Fertilizers Ltd. (MFL) and FACT in past. Both the companies have shown profit during the year 2011-12.

The steps taken by MFL and BVFCL for skill management development of their personnel are as under;

BVFCL:- For skill management development the Company provides in-house training programmes with the available resources. In case of need external expert are also called. The company has good infrastructure for conducting such trainings.

Besides this the company also sends its employees for attending training programmes conducted by Fertilizer Association of India (FAI), Central/regional Labour Institute, Indian Institute of Public Administration and at the vendors workshops.

MFL:- MFL is an ISO 9001 certified company and the corporate management is committed to quality management system and ensures continued up-gradation of Technology, Development of Human Resources and Improvement of quality of work. Quality objectives of training are fixed every year and various in-house and external training programs are conducted regularly.

There is no proposal to merge sick fertilizer units with profit earning units.

This information was given by the Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers, Shri Srikant Kumar Jena in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.

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DNM/NSK/NV

BIFR rehabilitation process governs revival of closed fertilizer units, with Operating Agency review and government approval required. Revival of closed and sick fertilizer PSUs proceeds through expedited Board for Industrial and Financial Restructuring approval of Draft Rehabilitation Schemes, with an Operating Agency examining submitted DRS proposals and submitting them to competent government authorities; inter-ministerial consultation and agency evaluation precede final government approval, while entities undertake skill development and some past loan waivers and profitability have been noted.