Disinvestment in Rashtriya Ispat Nigam draws ire of unions
RIL IPO is expected to hit the market in January
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-09-24 05:07 GMT
Visakhapatnam: Amid strong opposition from workforce against the Centre’s attempts to disinvest PSUs, Vizag based Rashtriya Ispat Nigam (RINL) filed a draft prospectus with market regulator Sebi on Monday for an initial public offer (IPO). It is learnt that the IPO is expected to hit the market in January, next year.
Through the IPO the government will sell 10 per cent of its stake in the company. All trade unions, dissatisfied with move, are planning protests in the coming days. Just last year, all the unions took part in the total shutdown of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), which was a first in the history of Navratna steelmaker.
Incidentally, RINL is only PSU in the state that will go for disinvestment as part of Narendra Modi government's ambitious disinvestment programme. Trade unions are now getting ready for another round of agitation. RINL workers unions will be attending a state level meeting that is going to be held in Vijayawada against the centre's policy of disinvestment, on Thursday, where they will discuss their future course of action.
"After attending the Vijayawada meeting we are going to hold another meeting among all the unions on September 27 here in Vizag to decide our action plan. Agitation includes, gate meetings, demonstrations, protests and finally work strike. Very soon we will also give work strike notice to the management. RINL is a profit making company and we don't understand why they are privatizing it," said AITUC general secretary, D. Aadinarayana.
In 2012, RINL which runs Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP) here, had missed going for IPO thrice due to June 13 mishap, strong opposition from work force and poor market conditions, among other reasons. Last time it was on October 16, 2012 that the RINL was supposed to be listed in the stock exchange, which was deferred indefinitely. Due to which it was on the verge of losing the Navratna status.
However, the status was extended twice till 2013 and then 2014. This year's Navratna status will also end in the third week of November and it was compulsory to go for an IPO to retain the coveted tag. There are around 14,000 permanent workers at VSP and around 15,000 on contract basis.