Indian state-run iron ore miner NMDC Limited’s Nagarmar steel project and Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited (FSNL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of MSTC Limited (formerly Metal Scrap Trading Corporation Limited), figure in the list of 23 government companies drawn up by India’s Ministry of Finance for strategic sale of government equity holdings in these companies, a government official said on Monday, August 12.
Significantly, NMDC’s 3 million mt greenfield Nagarmar Steel Mill under construction in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh is close to completion and scheduled to go into trial production before the end of the current year, the official added.
“Strategic disinvestment of government holding in these companies has been guided by the basic economic principle that government should not be in the business to engage itself in manufacturing goods and services in sectors where competitive markets have come of age and economic potential of such entities may be better discovered in hands of strategic investors due to various factors like infusion of capital, technology upgrades and efficiencies of management practices,” a Ministry of Finance statement on government disinvestment said.