Government scraps privatisation of SAIL's Bhadravathi steel plant

The government on Wednesday scrapped the privatisation of SAIL's Bhadravathi steel plant due to insufficient bidder interest. The Expression of Interest (EoI) for selling SAIL's 100 per cent stake in Visvesvaraya Iron and Steel Plant (VISP), Bhadravathi in Karnataka, was invited on July 2019.

The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) said multiple EoIs had been received and qualified bidders had conducted due diligence.

"However, due to insufficient bidder interest in proceeding further with the transaction, Government of India, with the approval of Alternative Mechanism (Empowered Group of Ministers) has decided to annul the EoI and thereby terminating the present transaction," DIPAM said.