The board of Shipping Corporation of India has agreed to certain modifications in the process of demerger of non-core assets. The disinvestment will involve selling of non-core assets such as shipping house and training institute. “The board of directors of the company has approved certain modifications in the scheme of arrangement for demerger of non-core assets of Shipping Corporation of India Ltd into Shipping Corporation of India Land and Assets Ltd,” the company said in a BSE filing. The modification is subject to approval of the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways (MoPSW) and DIPAM, it added.
According to SCI, the changes will not impact the share entitlement ratio and other major terms and conditions of the scheme of arrangement for the shareholders.
The SCI board had in August last year approved a demerger scheme for hiving off the identified non-core assets and incorporated Shipping Corporation of India Land and Assets Ltd (SCILAL) in November 2021 for holding such assets of the company, which is under the Ministry of Ports, Shipping and Waterways.
The ministry had in April 2022 directed SCI to expedite the process of demerger of its non-core assets to SCILAL and also requested the board to review the demerger scheme for hiving off the non-core assets, including Shipping House, Mumbai and Maritime Training Institute (MTI), Powai.
In March last year, the government had received multiple bids for privatisation of Shipping Corporation of India.
The Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) in December 2020 had invited expressions of interest (EoIs) for strategic disinvestment of the government’s entire stake of 63.75 per cent in SCI, along with the transfer of management.
The Cabinet had in November 2020 given in-principle approval for the strategic divestment of Shipping Corp. The privatisation of SCI is now likely to be completed in the current fiscal. The government has budgeted to garner Rs 65,000 crore from CPSE disinvestment in the ongoing 2022-23 fiscal.
