There is no proposal before the Indian government for the merger of two state-run companies - iron ore miner NMDC Limited and pellet manufacturer KIOCL Limited, junior minister of steel Bhupati Raju Srinivasa Varma told India’s parliament in reply to a query on Wednesday, March 12.
The junior minister said that the Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (Dipam) under the Finance Ministry will take a decision on the privatization or merger of any public sector undertaking.
It had been widely reported that the ministry of steel in January had proposed the merger of NMDC Limited which produces an estimated 40 million mt of iron ore per year and KIOCL Limited which operates a 3 million mt per year capacity pellet plant, to achieve synergies and economies of scale for the two government-owned companies.