The Hindu Business Line : BIFR approves revival schemes for Alind units

THE Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has approved the draft schemes for the revival of the switchgear and relays divisions of the ailing Aluminium Industries Ltd (Alind).

The scheme for the Switchgear division, which is an operating one, has been worked out in the wake of a proposal by the Alind Employees Industrial Co-operative Society, floated by workers, for taking over the unit. The society has also formed a company for the purpose.

The total outlay of the scheme is Rs 4.77 crore, comprising an equity component of Rs 1.35 crore, grant by the grama panchayat of Rs 22.5 lakh, working capital term loans of Rs 3 crore and operational surplus of Rs 19 lakh, according to available sources.

The society has raised around Rs 80 lakh from employees towards the equity of the newly formed company. Besides, the Kerala State Industrial Development Corporation (KSIDC) has offered to participate in the equity to the extent of Rs 50 lakh.

The scheme envisages waiver of sales tax arrears of about Rs 1.40 crore to the State Government. The creditor banks and financial institutions have agreed to accept a one-time settlement of their dues at Rs 1.10 crore.

The Switchgear division, located at Mannar in Kerala, was set up in 1968 for manufacturing circuit-breakers and current transformers. An appraisal done by the KSIDC some time ago had noted that the division was one of the few facilities in the country with all the three basic technologies for the manufacture of circuit-breakers under one roof.

As per the latest provisional estimates, the division registered an income of Rs 11.41 crore with a profit of Rs 22.31 lakh.

The scheme for the Relays division in Thiruvananthapuram, which is also an operating unit, has been drafted on a take-over proposal by a non-resident Indian industrialist. It envisages a total cost of Rs 2.37 crore, which is to be financed by an equity component of Rs 1.30 crore and promoter's loan of Rs 1.07 crore.

The division became operational in 1981-82 for the production of static relays and it later indigenously developed microprocessor-based relays and ammunicators for the Railways and the State electricity boards. Other products include control panels and feeder protection relays.

The BIFR had in November 2003 ordered the revival of the operating divisions of Alind as separate companies and sale of the assets of the remaining closed divisions. The order followed failure of earlier attempts to revive the company, which has eight divisions spread over Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Orissa, as a single entity.

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