With the three-day e-auction by National Textile Corporation (NTC) to sell the land at its two closed mills in Gujarat starting on Wednesday, the bid for New Manekchowk Mills at Ahmedabad crossed Rs 90 crore.
The online auction for the 33,222-sq mtr plot began at 10 am, with a reserve price of Rs 41.27 crore and 21 bidders. After hours of bidding, the price for the plot, which also accommodates a bungalow of 400 sq mtr built-up area, shot up to Rs 90.31 crore.
Likewise, the auction for the 61,040-sq mt plot at Mahalaxmi Textile Mills, Bhavnagar, started with a reserve price of Rs 27.47 crore and three participants. However, according to NTC officials, the day did not yield any fresh bidding.
The e-auction, third by NTC this year, is to conclude on December 31. However, it can go beyond the deadline because of the auto-extension option.
“One of the best aspects of the e-auction is that the bidders get multiple opportunities to secure a plot, unlike in the manual tender. Thus, it also ensures the best price for the seller. Once again, the better sides of e-auction are reaffirmed in our latest online bidding on Tuesday,” said K Ramachandran Pillai, chairman and managing director, NTC.
NTC has made a turnaround in the recent past to emerge as a profitable entity, with a comprehensive modernisation-cum-revival plan approved by the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction. It launched launched these e-auctions in July. The one for its 2.39-acre Poddar Mill in Mumbai had raked in Rs 474 crore, against a reserve price of Rs 250 crore, with financial and realty major Indiabulls Infratech winning the bid, while Bharat Mills earned NTC around Rs 1,505 crore. By the end of 2010, the company expects to garner over Rs 2,000 crore from auctions.
The company has already announced the sale of more properties to part-finance its revival package, worth Rs 9,102 crore for its 24 mills. The modernisation of 18 mills has been completed and the mills are generating profits.
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By February, the company hopes to wrap up sale of its mills in Bangalore, Indore, Ujjain, Bhopal and Rajasthan, according to NTC officials. Meanwhile, in Gujarat, NTC dropped plans to put its Viramgam Textile Mills and Petlad Textile Mills on auction after lack of earnest money deposits.
The company has about 1,300 acres in various places. NTC also intends to sell 30 acres of land of Minerva Mills, Bangalore, through e-auction.