Govt to close down FCI, Hindustan Fertiliser

By siliconindia   |   Friday, 22 November 2002, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: The government has finally made a move to close down Fertiliser Corporation of India (FCI) and Hindustan Fertiliser Corporation Limited (HFCL), except its Jodhpur Mining Organisation, Tapan Sikdar, minister of state for chemicals and fertilisers, said on Friday. "As it is not possible to revive the two firms, the government has decided to pull down shutters. The accumulated loss of FCI totalled Rs 7,921 crore on March 31 while that of HFCL was Rs 6,725.88 crore," he told Rajya Sabha in a written reply. It is disclosed that these companies have offered voluntary retirement scheme to all their employees numbering about 10,600 involving an expenditure of Rs 691 crore to be met through budgetary support from the government. However, Sikdar said the government has granted financial relief to Fertiliser and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) and Madras Fertilisers Limited (MFL). FACT's outstanding interest of Rs 226.88 crore has been waived for 1998-99. It was for an ammonia project at Udyogamandal. The government has also put a moratorium on principal repayment of the OECF loan totalling Rs 378.2 Crore, Sikdar said. The new pricing policy for urea units will not affect farm-gate price, as farmers will continue to get urea as statutorily notified maximum retail price. The policy will be introduced from April 1 next year and replace the existing retention price scheme, he said. It is aimed at greater transparency, uniformity and efficiency in subsidy disbursements to urea manufacturing units, induce manufacturers to take cost reduction measures and make them competitive, the minister said.