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NTC to hand over two mills to Pondicherry Government

R. Gopalakrishnan

It will surrender assets of the mills worth Rs. 39 crores

K. Ramachandran Pillai . — Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

CHENNAI: The National Textile Corporation (NTC) will hand over two of its mills to the Pondicherry Government on Friday, marking a new phase in the history of the units which are among the oldest in the country.

Union Minister for Textiles Shankar Sinh Vaghela will participate in a function to be held in Pondicherry on Friday to transfer the ownership of the Swadeshi Cotton Mills (established in 1829) and the Bharathi Mills (established in 1892).

K. Ramachandran Pillai, Chairman and Managing Director, NTC, said on Thursday that the Corporation will hand over assets of the two mills worth Rs. 39 crores to the Government, while assuming responsibility for their liability totalling Rs. 150 crores. While Bharathi is a composite mill, Swadeshi Cotton is a spinning unit.

Mr. Pillai said the NTC had earlier decided to close down Swadeshi Cotton mills following a techno-economic study which assessed it as unviable, while Bharathi mill was found to have the potential for revival.

However, following requests by the employees' unions and the Pondicherry Government, an agreement was reached to transfer the mills to the Government, which runs the Anglo-French Textiles.

Mr. Pillai said the NTC had embarked upon total restructuring as a result of which, out of 119 mills operated by the Corporation, 65 mills in different States had been closed down and 45,000 employees had availed of the voluntary retirement scheme (VRS).

The NTC was running 67 mills. including two with a workforce of about one thousand, which were now being transferred to the Pondicherry Government. All the eight mills of the NTC in Tamil Nadu were faring well.

The VRS had been financed by the Corporation with loans totaling Rs 2,000 crores raised with Government guarantee and placed privately with financial institutions.

The NTC had now decided to merge its subsidiaries, Mr. Pillai added.

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