Panel likely to meet on Monday to finalise strategic sale of BEML

The core group of secretaries on divestment, headed by Cabinet Secretary Rajiv Gauba, is likely to meet on Monday to finalise the strategic sale of BEML Ltd (earlier Bharat Earth Movers Ltd), a public sector company in defence, four years after the Cabinet approved its strategic divestment.

The government in December 2016 had cleared the plan to divest 26 per cent of its 54 per cent, along with transferring management control.

The panel will meet to finalise the preliminary information memorandum and expressions of interest, said a government official.

The government is moving ahead with the strategic sale of public sector undertakings that have received the Cabinet’s nod. Earlier this month, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said the pace of disinvestment would gain momentum, and the divestment proposals that had received the Cabinet approval would be taken up in all “earnestness”.

The government, facing a revenue shortfall as the economy tries to recover from the pandemic, is trying its luck with completing as many stake sales and strategic divestments as possible, though meeting its divestment target of Rs 2.1 trillion for 2020-21 remains a distant goal.

The government also decided to keep apart surplus land and other assets from the strategic disinvestment of BEML, and dispose them of separately.

In January this year, the company, which has interests in defence, aerospace, mining and rail, had appointed CBRE South Asia and JLL Property Consultants its consultancy firms for monetising its identified assets. The panel will decide whether some non-core assets will be disposed of or transferred to the new buyer. 

The proposal will then be taken up by the ministerial panel, which has the finance minister, minister of road transport and highways, and minister of the administrative ministry as its members.

The company had formed a consortium with Coal India (CIL) and Damodar Valley Corporation (DVC) to acquire the assets of Mining and Allied Machinery Corporation (MAMC), which has been liquidated.

BEML is on the verge of disposing of the assets of MAMC in New Delhi and Nagpur. It will also exit the consortium entered into with CIL and DVC ahead of the divestment process.

It’s also looking to close its subsidiary Vignyan Industries because the government’s attempt to divest the company failed.