Centre to infuse nearly Rs 3,000 crore to revive ECL

NEW DELHI: With an aim to revive the Eastern Coalfields Limited (ECL), the government will infuse fresh capital of nearly Rs 3,000 crore besides converting its current balance of Rs 1,532 crore into equity.

"The government has sanctioned a rehabilitation package for the ECL. An investment of Rs 2,956.83 crore from 2003-04 to 2012-13 for augmentation of production to be met from the internal resources of ECL," Minister of State for Coal Dasari Narayana Rao told the Lok Sabha today in reply to a written query.

The central government has also approved conversion of current account balance of Rs 1,532 crore of ECL by CIL into equity share capital thereby bringing down its negative net worth, Rao said.

He said the government has also approved waiving of unsecured loans amounting to Rs 519 crore provided ECL achieved the outlined milestones besides waiving interest of such loans amounting to Rs 168.65 crore and future interest of Rs 33.73 crore.

The Centre has also waived Rs 82.47 crore of apex charges and future waiver of service charges at the rate of Rs 14 crore per annum besides waiving electricity charges at the rate of Rs 18 crore, the minister said.

The other steps okayed by the Centre, include charging of no interest on current account balance by CIL, moratorium on repayment of further unsecured loan and current account balance till ECL's networth became positive and exempting ECL from Section 41 (1) of the Income Tax Act for remission arising out of waiver of loans, interest and other liabilities, he added.