The Hindu Business Line : NTC close to assuming single corporate entity

National Textiles Corporation (NTC) is within the range of achieving its next vision of merging its nine subsidiaries into single corporate entity, as the Bureau for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) has approved the merger proposal. The move will enable the ailing public sector textile monolith trim its top-heavy organisational structure.

"Having already filed the merger proposal with the Registrar of Companies (RoC), implementation of the merger plan is already on which will see all the working textile units of the NTC being brought under two regional structures - one to be headquartered in Coimbatore (for the South) and one in Mumbai (for the Northern and Western sectors). These two would function under the single holding company at Delhi," said Mr K. Ramachandran Pillai, Chairman and Managing Director of NTC, New Delhi.

BIFR had approved the merger in its sitting in May this year.

Mr Pillai, who was here to attend a review meeting of NTC Tamilnadu, told newspersons that the merger aimed at enhancing economy of operation and pruning the costs by reducing the administrative heads, including the number of directors, though all the existing directors of the subsidiaries would be allowed to complete their tenures.

Pruning the top-level numbers alone would save Rs 30 lakh a month for NTC.

According to the NTC Chairman, the administration also plans to bring down the number of employees from 21,000 to 15,000 through another round of VRS.

The combination of sale of assets and restructuring of the viable textile mills helped NTC post net profit of Rs 1,014 crore last year. It was largely due to land sale realisation (NTC netted Rs 3,100 crore through sale of assets and surplus land).

As part of the move to take up the next round of sale of mill lands in Mumbai, the NTC officials would hold discussions with the Chief Secretary of the Maharashtra Government on July 21.

The meet is intended to iron out the problems in securing the State Government's approval for sale of surplus lands of 13 mills in Mumbai, measuring about 100 acres.