Andhra Pradesh: 29 Firms File Bids For Vizag Steel Plant, Telangana Government Backs Out

Twenty-nine companies, including seven international steel export companies, submitted their bids For the Visakhapatnam Steel Plant.

Twenty-nine companies, including seven international steel export companies, submitted their bids in response to an Expression of Interest (EoI) notification by Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited (RINL). Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited is the corporate entity of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP).

The deadline for filing an Expression of Interest (EoI) ended Thursday. The government of Telangana, which initially expressed interest in participating in the bidding for RINL through the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL), stayed away from the process.

Sources in the VSP said both the Andhra Pradesh and Telangana governments showed no interest in filing bids for the EoI.

Earlier, Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar sent a team of officials to the VSP to study the feasibility of participating in the Expression of Interest (EOI) for its acquisition. While opposing the Centre's plans to privatise the PSU, the BRS government had expressed interest in acquiring VSP. The employees had also welcomed the move, saying that the acquisition of VSP by SCCL would protect their interests.

READ | Telangana Government’s Proposed Bid For Vizag Steel Plant Baseless, Says Andhra Pradesh Minister

Andhra Pradesh's ruling party, the YSR Congress, had accused the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) government of adopting double standards on the issue.

Andhra Pradesh IT and Industries Minister Gudivada Amarnath had slammed BRS for opposing the privatisation of VSP and, at the same time, planning to participate in the bidding. Parties opposing the privatisation of the VSP had also demanded that the YSRCP government of Andhra Pradesh participate in the bidding to save the PSU.

As per the earlier schedule, the deadline for submitting bids for EoI was to end on April 15, but the RINL extended the last date by five days. The RINL had invited EoI for the supply of raw materials and funding of working capital against the supply of finished steel products.