SAIL will shut down two subsidiaries in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand

NEW DELHI: State-run steel major Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) is going to shut down two of its subsidiaries in Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. The company, under the Ministry of Steel, is the country’s largest steel-making company with an annual capacity of over 21 million tonne per annum (MTPA).

SAIL Jagdishpur Power Plant Limited, incorporated for setting up of gas-based power plant at Jagdishpur (UP), and SAIL Sindri Projects Limited, incorporated for revival of the Sindri (Jharkhand) unit of the Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd, have not taken off and are under closure.

The company has said in a report that SAIL has initiated actions for closure/exit from certain Joint Venture companies as well as subsidiaries which are either non-performing or non-operational. The closure action for two subsidiary companies under the Fast Track Exit Mode is in progress, the report said.

The two subsidiary companies have filed application for closure under Fast Track Exit Mode as per provisions of Section 248(2) of the Companies Act, 2013 and Rule 4 (1) of the Companies (Removal of Names of the Companies from the Register of Companies) Rules, 2016. However, the company has not provided any financial details of these units.

“Closure of SAIL Jagdishpur Power Plant Limited and SAIL Sindri Projects Limited through Fast Track Exit Mode has been filed with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs,” the report said.

In Sindri, the SAIL had proposed to revive the loss-making Fertilizer Corporation of India Ltd plant. The proposal was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) in August 2011 and a new company SAIL Sindri Projects Limited was created in November the same year. However, land acquisition hassles put a brake on the project. The plan was to set up a new 1.15 MTPA fertilizer plant, a new steel mill of 5.6 MTPA capacity and a 1,000 MW power plant at Sindri with a combined investment of Rs 35,000 crore.

Interestingly, another SAIL subsidiary, IISCO-Ujjain Pipe and Foundry Company Limited, Kolkata, is already under liquidation. SAIL also has two other subsidiaries—SAIL Refractory Company Limited at Salem in Tamil Nadu and Chhattisgarh Mega Steel Limited at Bhilai in Chhattisgarh.