The Hindu Business Line : NMDC gets Navaratna status

Hyderabad, Jan 24 NMDC Ltd has joined the elite club of public sector units with the status of a ‘Navaratna’, as per a Union Government notification today.

The Hyderabad-headquartered PSU, which achieved a turnover of Rs 4,185 crore during fiscal 2006-07, is perhaps the 13th in the club, which has IOC, ONGC, BHEL, NTPC, SAIL, MTNL etc., in its fold.

The Navaratna tag will give NMDC, the giant mining company under the Steel Ministry autonomy to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore in joint ventures, subsidiaries, projects, acquisition and mergers and enable fast decision making, said Mr Rana Som, Chairman and Managing Director.

Fiscal freedom

The cash-rich PSU can now seek bigger opportunities globally also with this fiscal freedom. “Our task now is to exercise this power. We are very determined to do so”, Mr Som told Business Line.

Reacting to the status conferred on the company, Mr Som said “the employees are really excited. The Navaratna status also means we are a superior PSU, which we can turn into our USP (unique selling proposition), in the competitive business environment”.

Joint ventures

Talking on the immediate plans, Mr Som said the two joint ventures in Chhattisgarh - the four million tonnes greenfield steel plant in consortia with SAIL and RINL and the other venture with the Chhattisgarh Mining Development Corporation to exploit the 110 million tonnes deposit in Bailadila - will be accelerated.

“We are already talking to other State Governments with mine deposits to form such joint ventures”, he added.

On the global front also, NMDC has a significant role in the newly-formed Coal Videsh Ltd - a consortia of SAIL, NTPC, Coal India, NMDC and RINL.

The new entity has been formed with a Rs 3,500 crore paid-up equity and will bid for coal blocks, especially coking coal to meet India’s domestic demands for the steel sector, Mr Som said.