Indian government will invite financial bids, the next stage in the privatization of NMDC Steel’s greenfield steel mill, only after ‘firing up’ of the blast furnace, a government official said on Thursday, June 29.
However, the 3 million greenfield steel mill project under construction by NMDC Steel Limited, a subsidiary of iron ore miner, NMDC Limited is yet to commence production, even though the government has set a June-end deadline.
According to the official, the government expected better valuations from private investors, once the mill commence commercial production, as investors would have greater confidence once the project was complete.
The greenfield steel mill project conceived and implemented by NMDC Limited has been hived off into a separate entity- NMDC Steel Limited, with the government holding 60.79 percent of the equity of which 50.79 percent was proposed to be sold off to a private investor along with management control.
However, the official said that the timeline of inviting financial bids is entirely dependent on the mill commencing commercial production, as several deadlines have been missed over the past several months.
