The steel and finance ministries are working on a package for the steel sector that will be finalized in the next two months, Sundararajan said at a media event in New Delhi on Monday.
The Government is preparing a financial package to help revive the steel sector besides preventing bank loans advanced to steel companies from turning bad, Steel Secretary Aruna Sundararajan has been quoted as saying.
The steel and finance ministries are working on a package for the steel sector that will be finalized in the next two months, Sundararajan said at a media event in New Delhi on Monday.
A number of options are being considered, including bringing in international investors to invest in domestic steel companies, Sundararajan said.
“There are a broad range of proposals that include banks taking certain equity as redeemable preference shares and then giving the companies enough time to redeem them. There are other proposals, where we are looking at bringing in financial investors who can hold some of these stakes for a period of time, and then when the company comes back to health, they can disinvest,” she said.
“We are also looking at bringing in certain external or international investors who can pump in fresh equity into these companies. There has been a fair degree of interest from international investors,” Sundararajan added.
The Government has already started taking steps to ease the troubles faced by the steel industry, she said.
Last month, the Government announced a minimum import price (MIP) on 173 steel products for a period of six months to protect the domestic industry from cheap Chinese imports.
Already, even though it is early days yet since it was announced, we are seeing a much better sentiment in the market. Prices are going up and banks and companies’ financial health is improving,” Sundararajan said.
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