Swraj Paul bids for Dunlop through BIFR

London-based industrialist Swraj Paul has bid for defunct tyre maker Dunlop India by putting in an application with the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR).

Sources close to the development said the BIFR, the agency monitoring the rehabilitation process of the Kolkata-based Dunlop, had received a proposal from a Swraj Paul group company. "The agency is yet to take a decision on the issue," they added.

The application to BIFR to take over Dunlop comes barely a month after Angad Paul, son of Swraj Paul and CEO of Caparo Industries, had said they were weighing several options to set up greenfield projects in India. Dunlop, he had said, was "one of the possibilities".

Experts said the Swraj Paul bid, if it fructifies, would perhaps be the first acquisition of a company from the BIFR net. Normally, the BIFR asks promoters to chip in funds to put a company back on the rails.

However, corporate debt restructuring (CDR) cells of banks and financial institutions have sold quite a few companies which have failed to pay off financial institutions.

When asked, a spokesperson for Jumbo group, the promoters of Dunlop, said the group was focused on the implementation of the rehabilitation package."Dunlop is a sick company. It is now under the supervision of BIFR. Our task is to implement the rehabilitation package first," he said.

Experts said assets of the company were its brand value and vast properties in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. It has, however, got huge liabilities with financial institutions and banks. Dunlop has over 2,500 employees.