NTC begins e-auction of land of its closed mills, eyeing Rs 5000 crore

The public sector National Textiles Corporation (NTC) today began an e-auction of the land of its closed textile mills by putting a 2.39 acre Mumbai property under the hammer.

NTC is chasing a target of raising Rs 5000 crore through the sale of such land to finance an ongoing modernisation drive.

The e-auction, launched by Union Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran, is the first ever initiative by any government company to sell land through e-auctions.

An NTC press release said that At 6.50 pm on the first day of the three-day e-auction today, the highest bid for the land of the Podar Mill (Process House, facing Worli Sea Face in Mumbai, was Rs 284.40 crore aginst the reserve price of Rs 250 crore fixed by the company.

"There are eight bidders participating in the e-auction which will conclude at 5 pm on July 31. The e-auction will ensure a high degree of transparency in the process of the sale of land of the closed mills of the NTC,’’ NTC Chairman Mr K Ramachandran Pillai said.

NTC has drawn up a roadmap to generate Rs 5,000 crore during the current fiscal by selling most of its properties in Mumbai, Indore, Kanpur, Bangalore and Coimbatore.

The main resources will be from Mumbai by selling the remaining 2,24,500 sq. mtrs of land. On the basis of Rs. 100 crore per acre of reserve price that the company is expecting, NTC is hoping to raise the targeted amount easily.

Till now, NTC had been resorting to physical tender process for selling its immovable properties.

The process of e-auctioning is being conducted by e-Procurement Technologies Ltd., Ahmedabad on behalf of NTC, after a detailed system audit conducted by EQDC, a Government of Gujarat enterprise, and under close monitoring of Hari Bhakti & Co. an NIC/Cert-in empanelled system auditor.

There are eight bidders participating in the e-auction that will continue till July 31. The participating bidders are: Indiabulls Infratech Limited, Mumbai, National Building Construction Corporation Ltd, New Delhi, Kohinoor Duet, Mumbai, Peninsula Mega-City Development Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Celebration Developers Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Runwal Developers Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, Lodha Ultimate Buildtech & Farms Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, and DB View Infracon Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

The present bidding will be followed by e-auctioning of the next property at Mumbai - Bharat Textile Mills - measuring 8.37 acres (33,938.83 sq. mtrs.). The reserve price of the property has been fixed at Rs. 750 crore. This auction will be carried out during august 4-6. For this auction, seven parties have submitted the earnest money deposit.

The bidders shortlisted for the Bharat Textile Mills are: D B View Infracon Pvt Ltd, Indiabulls Infraestate Ltd, Peninsula Realestate Magmt Pvt Ltd, Ahinsa Realtors Pvt Ltd. ( Tata ), Perspective Realty Pvt Ltd. ( Oberoi ), Videocon Realty & Infrs. Ltd, and LodhaStrucutre Developers Pvt Ltd, the release said.

NNN