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Kohinoor Mandal

Kolkata , June 23

FERTILISER and tea producer Duncans Industries Ltd, the flagship company of Mr G.P. Goenka, is all to finalise its accounts after a period of three-and-a-half years.

The company was mired with all sorts of problems for the last three years. However, two recent developments have left a positive impact on its fortunes.

First, the Corporate Debt Restructuring (CDR) team has approved the debt-restructuring package of Duncans Industries. It has also agreed to disburse approximately Rs 60 crore as fresh debt.

The company is likely to receive this money some time in the first week of July. Meanwhile, during the next seven days representatives of the company and the CDR team would sign the debt restructuring terms.

On his behalf, Mr Goenka has already infused Rs 15 crore in the company. Another Rs 10 crore would be infused soon.

On Tuesday, the company entered into agreement with the workers of its fertiliser unit located at Panki in Uttar Pradesh. It was decided that the management would lift the lay-off on July 8.

This is the second most significant development for the Duncans Industries. The fertiliser plant was closed down on March 25, 2002, after the Kanpur Electricity Supply Corporation disconnected power supply to the unit.

Mr G.P Goenka told Business Line that subsequent to the lifting of the lay-off, the company would require another four to six weeks' time to reopen the unit. "We would take some time to refurbish the plant," he said.

Meanwhile, the company has started preparing its final accounts and a balance sheet. Duncans Industries prepared its last annual report in December 2001 for the 18-month period ending September 20, 2001.

Thereafter it had another extended accounting period. The company was supposed to close the accounts for another 18 months ending on March 31, 2003. Finalisation of the accounts could not be made because the Panki factory was closed down.

According to Mr Goenka, the management has started preparing the final accounts and he hoped everything would be ready soon. "We would close our accounts on March 31, this year. We have started working to finish off all the pending accounts," he said.

Despite these positive developments, the company is still fighting a legal battle with the Union Government at the Supreme Court over the retention price mechanism for the fertiliser division, which was famous for its Chand Chhap brand name.

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