Visakhapatnam Steel Plant moots monetisation of its properties across India to improve liquidity

RINL-VSP plans to sell properties across India to raise funds, facing opposition from employees and local leaders.

At a time when coalition governments of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) both in the State and at the Centre are assuring that they would help the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (RINL-VSP) emerge from its ongoing financial difficulties, the steel plant’s management is believed to have embarked on a plan of selling the company’s outstation properties across the country to generate some funds.

In-principle clearance is said to have been accorded for selling RINL-VSP properties in cities like Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Delhi.

According to reliable sources in RINL-VSP, the primary purpose of the proposed monetisation drive is to improve liquidity by generating at least ₹476.18 crore as per the present market value. Keeping in view the current liquidity challenges, the independent directors (of Marketing and Finance among other departments) suggested the board that the monetisation process be expedited without any delay.

The properties identified for monetisation are: an office building in Mumbai with an area of 214 sq metres with an approximate market value of ₹12.51 crore, seven flats in Goregoan East, Mumbai, with a combined area of 528 sq m and a market price of ₹10.91 crore, four flats in Koperkhairane with an area of 261 sq m and a market price of ₹2.90 crore, two flats in Kalamboli of Mumbai with an area of 108 sq m and a market price of ₹61 lakh, an office building in Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi, with an area of 350 sq m and a market price of ₹16 crore, an office building in Faridabad (186 sq m, ₹1.42 crore), an office building in Hyderabad (1 acre, ₹12.15 crore), office building in Bengaluru (424 sq m, ₹6.50 crore) a stock yard in Chennai (13.2 acres, market value of ₹191.73 crore), a stock yard in Hyderabad (22 acres, at ₹220 crore), and lastly an office building in Pune priced at ₹1.45 crore.

The total market value of all assets combined is ₹476.18 crore.

RINL purchased the large land parcels in Hyderabad and Chennai for storing steel material and using them as stockyards. The Hyderabad property was purchased from the then undivided AP Industrial Corporation at Velumala in Medak in 1991. Nearly 4.5 lakh tonnes per year of steel was being handled through this stockyard, which served Central and Western India, apart from Telangana.

Similarly, the property in Chennai was purchased from M/s Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, Tamil Nadu, in Sathangadu in 1987. Nearly three lakh tonnes of steel per year was being handled through this stockyard. It catered to the needs of South India.