KSRTC has land worth Rs 3,500 Crore

Kochi: The ailing KSRTC  has a net worth of Rs 3,500 crore, mainly in the form of land. This is as per the report being prepared by Varma & Varma, a chartered accountancy firm, which did the net worth assessment as part of the corporation’s bid to avail of loans from public sector banks.

“So far, we’ve not done the asset valuation. As per the demand from banks, we entrusted the firm to do the asset valuation, including that of the land owned by the corporation. Ninety  per cent of the exercise is over and the firm is expected to submit the report soon,” said KSRTC Managing Director Antony Chacko.

The KSRTC is trying to avail of a loan of Rs 1,300 crore from public sector banks for swapping the KTDFC (Kerala Transport Development Finance Corporation Ltd)  loan. The KTDFC is charging an interest of 14.5 per cent and the repayment period is just five years, too much to ask from a loss-making firm. The monthly repayment alone comes to Rs 40 crore.

“The KSRTC is negotiating with the LIC and the public sector banks. The LIC has already agreed in principle to to take over the loan at 10 per cent interest, repayable in 15 years. The asset valuation is done as per the direction of the banks to calculate credit rating,” said sources. If successful, the monthly repayment of loan could be reduced to Rs 15 crore instead of the current Rs 40 crore.