• Investment World
• eWorld
• Brand Line
• Mentor
• Life
• Brand Quest
• The New Manager
• Smartbuy

Stocks

• Quotes
• SE Diary
• Scoreboard
• Open-End Mutual Fund

Cross Currency

• Rates
  
  

Shipping

• Ports
  
  

Archives

• Yesterday
• Datewise
• Resources
• In Focus
• In Depth
• Events 2007

Group Sites

• The Hindu
• The Hindu ePaper
• Business Line
• Business Line ePaper
• Sportstar
• Frontline
• The Hindu eBooks
• The Hindu Images

Mamuni Das

New Delhi, April 18 While the Shipping Ministry might have to transfer Visakhapatnam-based Hindustan Shipyard Ltd (HSL) to the Defence Ministry, following a Group of Ministers’ recommendation, it may get to ‘technically’ keep HSL under its fold.

This is because the GoM that recommended the transfer of HSL to the Defence Ministry for strategic reasons also suggested that the Government set up another shipyard for merchant shipbuilding purposes and the HSL brand can be used for the new shipyard, according to sources in the know. However, finer details of the new shipyard are yet to be firmed up.

The HSL restructuring-cum-revival proposal, proposed at a cost of about Rs 799.61 crore, was referred to a GoM by the Union Cabinet, given Indian Navy’s strategic interests in the region around Visakhapatnam.

The GoM comprised the Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony; the Minister for External Affairs, Mr Pranab Mukherjee; the Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram; and the Minister for Shipping, Road Transport and Highways, Mr T.R. Baalu.

The GoM recommendations would soon be forwarded to the Union Cabinet for a final approval.

HSL had been in financial crisis for many years due to several factors that include poor order-book position, lack of working capital, managerial inadequacies and inability to raise funds from financial institutions due to negative net worth. But, driven by the recent surge in the shipping industry, the order-books of all shipyards in India, including HSL, have swelled.

At present, the Defence Ministry has three shipyards in the country — Mazagaon Dock Ltd, Mumbai; Garden Reach Shipbuilders and Engineers Ltd, Kolkata; and Goa Shipyard Ltd, Goa. Meanwhile, the Shipping Ministry has three shipyards in its fold — HSL, Visakhapatnam; Cochin Shipyard Ltd, Cochin and Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Ltd, Kolkata.

More Stories on : Shipping | Brands

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Airline industry to petition panel on fuel tax cut

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu Business Line. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu Business Line