India’s Ministry of Steel has abandoned plans for the total privatization of Steel Authority of India Limited’s (SAIL) Alloy Steel Plant (ASP), located in Durgapur, West Bengal, after a notice inviting private investors in February 2018 failed to evoke any acceptable response, a government official said on Monday, February 18.
The official said that, in view of the lack of interest among private investors in picking up a 100 percent equity stake in ASP, the move for the strategic sale of the ailing plant stood nullified.
In view of this, the Ministry of Steel is looking to ask SAIL to explore the possibilities of reviving the ailing ASP on its own and also the possibility of fresh investment in the plant, the official added.
ASP is among the three SAIL steel mills which were put up for sale by the government last year, with the other mills being Salem Steel Plant (SSP) and Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Limited (VISL).