The Department of Fertilizers has requested the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) to postpone the hearing on Fertilizers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) since the department is about to finalise a revival package for the company.
Chairman and Managing Director of FACT Jaiveer Srivastava told newspersons here on Saturday that a letter had been sent to BIFR requesting a postponement of the hearing, now scheduled for September 16. BIFR, a Central agency, either assists in the revival of an industrial unit referred to it or chooses to shut it down, depending on the extent of sickness of the unit.
He said that communication from BIFR was expected on Monday. Mr. Srivastava said that being referred to BIFR was a procedural step but FACT continued to be a company with a bright future. The BIFR hearing did not mean the end of the road for the public sector utility.
He said that long- and medium-term growth plans had been submitted to the government and these proposals would come up for approval soon. A decision had been delayed because of some pertinent queries raised by the government on the revival and long-term growth plans, he said. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises had recommended a package of Rs.991 crore. If the package is approved, the fertilizer company would be able to come out of the BIFR net.
Once that is done, FACT has highly bankable projects as envisaged in the medium and long-term growth plan involving an investment of Rs.8,000 crore. The price of natural gas continued to be the most crucial factor in deciding the long-term profitability of the company, which had done well in production and sales. Any price above $12 per mmBtu would make FACT’s operations unprofitable, said Mr. Srivastava.
