Navratna status will help Concor get projects on the road sooner

Container Corporation of India (Concor), a ₹4,984-crore listed firm belonging to the Indian Railways, will be able to take up more port projects, bigger logistics parks, and will be able to invest in joint ventures abroad as a result of the Navratna status that it got on Wednesday, its Chairman and Managing Director, Anil Gupta, told BusinessLine.

Concor is the 17th public sector unit to get the Navratna status. The company’s stocks closed at ₹1328.75, up 1.74 per cent over the previous close. The company’s stock has gained 83 per cent since the start of 2014 and 15 per cent after the Narendra Modi-led Government took over on May 26. On Thursday, it closed at ₹1,328.75, up 1.75 per cent over the previous day’s close.

On whether there were any proposals valued above ₹500 crore that the company was working on, which can now be approved by the Concor Board (earlier, this required a nod from the Rail Board), P Allirani, Director-Finance, Concor, said “Right now, we do not have projects of over ₹500 crore for which we need Board approval. But in the next few years, we may have a project worth over ₹500 crore.”

Incidentally, the single largest project being implemented by Concor is close to ₹500 crore. Concor plans to spend ₹6,000 crore in the five-year period starting 2013.

Disinvestment plans

When asked, Concor officials declined to comment on the proposed disinvestment plan. However, sources in the know confirmed that the Railways and the Finance Ministry are discussing a proposal to disinvest another five per cent. The Government’s current share holding in the company is at 61.8 per cent.

On the day of Railway Budget, Railway Board Chairman Arunendra Kumar had said that he would not like to divest additional stake in Concor.

However, on the sidelines of an Assocham conference here on Friday, Kumar told BusinessLine that the Railways is in discussions with the Finance Ministry and the final call on the issue will be taken by the Finance Ministry.