Haldia Petrochemicals board working on revival plan

KOLKATA: In a last-ditch effort to save Haldia Petrochemicals from going to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction, which handles financially sick companies, its board has started working on a fresh proposal to save what was once a show piece of West Bengal's industrial resurgence.

The board of HPL met on Monday to formulate the contours of the proposal about which every official, at this time, remains tight lipped. The meeting was chaired by state Commerce and Industries Secretary CM Bachhawat.

After the meeting The Chatterjee Group Chairman Purnendu Chatterjee said the HPL crisis will be resolved soon. TCG holds 41% of the company, while the state government has a 31% stake.

According to sources, the petrochemicals maker is working on a financial restructuring plan which will ensure that its net worth becomes positive before the current fiscal year ends on March 31. At present the company has a negative net worth of more than Rs 60 crore. It has a paid-up equity of Rs 1,680 crore and preference share capital of Rs 271 crore.

There are some Rs 15.5 crore disputed shares of the company over which the promoters are at loggerheads for the past nine years. TCG chief Chatterjee had earlier proposed to infuse Rs 500 crore as equity in the company, but it was rejected by the state government.

Incidentally, in March 2012, 127 crore debt was converted into equity by its lenders which saved HPL from going to the BIFR. The company had an accumulated loss of Rs 2,500 crore at the end of March 2013. For the three quarters since, HPL posted a loss of 560 crore, taking its accumulated loss to more than Rs 3,000 crore.