NEW DELHI: The government retracted its steps on Wednesday when it decided to close down 12 more mills of National Textile Corporation (NTC). Earlier the government had decided to revive 30 mills through joint venture with private companies but as if now it has called bids for only 18 of them. The rest of the mills will be closed.
While private players will be offered 49 percent stake in the remaining 18 mills, the remaining 51 percent stake will remain with NTC.
The bidders can place Expression of Interest (EoI) for more than one mill and the successful companies will form a Special Purpose Vehicle with the government for running them. Out of the 18 mills on offer, 10 are in Maharashtra and two each in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. The parent company NTC will take on the existing liabilities of the mills and offer Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for its employees.
NTC has so far closed down 65 mills and transferred one to the government of Puducherry.
However, last year a similar effort by the government to revive British India Corporation (BIC) did not generate any kind of interest on part of private players as they had to take on the employees.
