The first-ever e-auction for the sale of land of two closed mills - Bharat and Poddar - at Worli owned by the National Textile Corporation setback on Thursday. While Poddar Mills has already been cleared for an e-auction sale, the Board for Industrial & Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) issued orders that the Bharat Mills online sale will be subject to confirmation from the Asset Sale Committee (SAC) and the board.
The order was passed after a disqualified bidder - Sumatinath Realty and Afro Ltd - questioned the role of the Ahmedabad-based company E-procurement Technologies Ltd, who are the conductors appointed by NTC for the e-auction.
The BIFR also issued orders that the ASC call a meeting by August 2 and ratify the decision of appointment of E-Procurement Technologies Ltd. And if the ASC members do not ratify the decision, the entire bidding process will have to be scrapped and redone.
BK Mishra, director (finance), NTC, termed the order as rectifying a procedural lapse. "Initially, our plan was to sell Bharat Mills land through a convention method of opening bids before bidders. We changed the decision and decided to auction the mill online like the Poddar Mills for two reasons, said Mishra. "From our past experience, we learned that only two or three bidders vie for the property through the conventional bedding process. Also, if we had persisted with the conventional method, the comptroller auditor general would have raised questions as to why we did not go in for a much transparent bidding process, which is e-auction, like we did in the case of Poddar Mills."
According to Mishra, since NTC had already appointed the Ahmedabad-based firm in 2009 for Poddar Mills, the same firm was asked to carry out the e-auction of Bharat Mills as well. "The ASC only has to rectify the decision, which we will do on August 2. As for BIFR rectifying the sale, there is nothing wrong in it as NTC is still under BIFR," added Mishra.
Poddar mills e-sale begins with a bang
Online auction for the 2.39 acre Poddar Mills at Worli got off to a flying note on Thursday with bids soaring past the reserve price of Rs 250 crore fixed by the National Textile Corporation (NTC) with eight bidders participating in the process over three days, the bids had touched Rs 285 crore by Thursday night.
NTC is expected to make hefty profits through this bidding process so that the money can be used for the implementation of its revival scheme. NTC has drawn up a roadmap to generate Rs 5,000 crore during the current financial in the city and a few small properties in Indore, Kanpur, Bangalore and coimbator.
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