Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Russian firm back on IISCO revival radar
Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 19:30 IST
KOLKATA: A Russian firm that had earlier shown interest in acquiring a state-owned steel major here has again come up with a revival plan for the ailing unit.
The federal steel ministry is said to be favourably inclined towards Tyazhproexport's (TPE) proposal on modernising the ailing West Bengal-based Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO).
The ministry has asked the Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), which controls IISCO, to finalise the deal with TPE by August, SAIL sources said adding that the two sides had already begun talks.
Though it is not yet clear if TPE has the required sanction of the Russian government to involve itself with IISCO, the sources said if the deal came through government consent should not be a problem.
TPE regularly featured in talks of a joint venture for modernisation of IISCO and even made some progress on acquiring the firm, but the deal failed because of technical problems.
Mitsui of Japan and Australian mining giant Broken Hill Proprietory (BHP) also showed interest in buying IISCO's coal and iron ore mines, but not in taking responsibility for its overall revival.
The fortunes of IISCO, and the Indian steel industry on the whole, tumbled in the late 1990s following a global slowdown in the steel sector. IISCO owed SAIL 
19.47 billion as of April 1, 1999, but the amount was written off following the approval of a financial restructuring proposal by the federal government in 2001.
Both SAIL and the government had ruled out any more doles to keep IISCO going.
SAIL appointed the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) as its global advisor for the disinvestment process, but the entire process failed in the absence of an interested party.
The government has admitted that if IISCO were not immediately modernised, it would be difficult to keep it going.
IISCO was declared a sick company in 1994 by the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA).
The rated capacity of IISCO is 0.87 million tonnes of hot metal and 0.5 million tonnes of saleable steel per annum. It has facilities for producing a wide range of structural, light and heavy rails, bars and rods, besides rolling special section like Z piling, Z bars and colliery arches.
Source: IANS
19.47 billion as of April 1, 1999, but the amount was written off following the approval of a financial restructuring proposal by the federal government in 2001.
Both SAIL and the government had ruled out any more doles to keep IISCO going.
SAIL appointed the Industrial Development Bank of India (IDBI) as its global advisor for the disinvestment process, but the entire process failed in the absence of an interested party.
The government has admitted that if IISCO were not immediately modernised, it would be difficult to keep it going.
IISCO was declared a sick company in 1994 by the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) under the Sick Industrial Companies (Special Provisions) Act, 1985 (SICA).
The rated capacity of IISCO is 0.87 million tonnes of hot metal and 0.5 million tonnes of saleable steel per annum. It has facilities for producing a wide range of structural, light and heavy rails, bars and rods, besides rolling special section like Z piling, Z bars and colliery arches.
Source: IANS