The three cases of privatisation in India till now are those of the Lagan Jute Machinery Company Limited, Modern Food Industries (India) Limited and BALCO. The highlights of these are given below.

Lagan Jute Machinery Company Limited (LJMC)

The Lagan Jute Machinery Company Limited (LJMC) was the first case of successful privatisation of a Central Public Sector Undertaking, carried out by the Government. LJMC is a Calcutta based company, and manufactures jute machinery (mainly spinning and drawing frames). It employed around 400 employees prior to privatisation. It started making losses from 1996-97 onward and the turnover was on a decline. LJMC's net worth as on March 1998 was around Rs. 5 crore and its annual turnover was also around Rs. 5 crore at that time.
LJMC had potential to increase turnover and be profitable. It was the main supplier of the type of machines that it manufactured. The Company was known for the quality of its products. There was a scope for expanding into the spares market and exports. Some (but not substantial) investment was required to modernize and renovate the plant and machinery. The manpower age profile was high but there was not much surplus manpower.

In the initial stages of disinvestment, LJMC was approved for privatisation in the year 1997, through sale of 74% stake to a strategic partner. The disinvestment process was handled by LJMC's holding company, Bharat Bhari Udyog Nigam Limited (BBUNL), under the administrative control and directions of the then Department of Heavy Industries (DHI), Ministry of Industry, Government of India.

Disinvestment process

Objectivity & transparency were the key requirements in the whole disinvestment process. As it was the first case of disinvestment for the Indian Government, the disinvestment process evolved as the transaction progressed.

After the issue of the advertisement for inviting bids from the potential partners, it took around 10 months to complete the disinvestment process.

The advisors carried out a review of the company and gave advice on the extent, mode and methodology for the disinvestment. The issues requiring action by the management/ approval of the GOI were identified and steps taken to ensure that the process moved smoothly and shareholder value was maximized.

The Cabinet gave its approval and the necessary agreement was entered into with the strategic partner in December 1999. After the full payment against the shares and execution of share transfer agreement, the management of the company was handed over to the strategic partner in July 2000.

Present status of LJMC

The strategic partner has retained the same senior management team and there has been no retrenchment of workers. An industry expert has been appointed as the Managing Director of LJMC. The operating and financial performance of the company has improved after the change of the management.

The performance of LJMC, post-privatisation (July-Sep 2000), as compared to pre- privatisation period (i.e. April-June 2000), as reported by the management, is given below:

The new management is reported to have taken initiative to introduce new products and revamp the marketing function (which was weak earlier) and other areas for improving the company's performance.

LJMC is on the path of revival after privatisation without drastic surgery and without any of the common apprehensions about privatisation having taken place.

Modern Food Industries (India) Limited (MFIL)

MFIL was incorporated as Modern Bakeries (India) limited in 1965. It had 2042 employees as on 31.1.2000. It went through minor restructuring during 1991-94 when its Ujjain Plant was closed, the Silchar project was abandoned and the production of Rasika drink was curtailed. The company was referred to Disinvestment Commission in 1996. In February 1997, the Commission recommended 100% sale of the company, treating it in the non-core sector. While making this recommendation, the Disinvestment Commission cited under- utilisation of the production facilities, large work force, low productivity and limited flexibility in decision-making, as some of its weaknesses.

In September 1997, the Government approved 50% disinvestment to a Strategic Partner through competitive global bidding. In October 1998, ANZ Investment bank was appointed as the Global Advisor for assisting in disinvestment. In January 1999, the Government decided to raise the disinvestment level to 74%, and an advertisement, inviting Expression of Interest from the prospective Strategic Partners, was issued in April 1999.

Pursuant to the advertisement and other marketing efforts by the Advisor, 10 parties submitted Expressions of Interest. Out of these, only 4 conducted the due diligence of the company, which included visits to Data Room, interaction with the management of the MFIL, and site visits. After due diligence, only 2 parties remained in the field, and on the last day for submission of the financial bid (15.10.99), the only bid received was that from Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL). The Government approved the selection of HLL as the strategic partner in January 2000, and the deal was closed on 31.1.2000.

As per the accounting procedure followed prior to disinvestment (31.1.2000), the Company did not make a provision for outstanding recoveries exceeding 5 years even, whereas the new management made provision for all outstanding recoveries which were more than 3 years old on the grounds that strict application of accounting principles warrant so. The accounts for the year 1999-2000, thus prepared, show an accumulated loss of Rs. 3099.97 lakhs, with the net-worth of the company as Rs. 201.45 lakhs. Since the net-worth of the company got eroded, by more than 50% of its peak net-worth (Rs. 1756.79 lakhs), during the immediately preceding four financial years, MFIL had to file a report with the BIFR in accordance with the requirements of Sick Industrial Company (Special Provisions) Act, 1985.

The following Table shows the highlights of the Strategic Sale.

Modern Food Industries (India) Ltd.

Post - Disinvestment Scenario

The decline in sales of Modern bread, which continued till the beginning of 2000, has been arrested. Weekly sales in December 2000 were around 44 lakhs SL, which is a 100% increase over the figure of April 2000.

As on 31.12.2000, HLL has extended secured corporate loans to MFIL to the extent of Rs. 16.5 crores for meeting the requirement of funds for working capital and capital expenditure.

HLL has provided a corporate guarantee to MFIL's banker, viz., Punjab national Bank, which has helped the Company in getting the interest rate reduced considerably to the extent of 3-4% of its earlier borrowing cost.

Steps have been taken towards improvement in quality of bread, its packaging and marketing with trade-promotion activities besides training the manpower in quality control systems.

Bharat Aluminium Company Ltd. (BALCO)

BALCO is a fully integrated aluminium producing company, having its own captive mines, an alumina refinery, an aluminium smelter, a captive power plant, and down-stream fabrication facilities. It was set up in 1965 and has its corporate office in New Delhi. Its main plant and facilities are situated in Korba (Chhatisgarh). It also has a fabrication unit in Bidhanbagh (West Bengal). The refining capacity of BALCO is 2 lakh tonnes per year and its smelting capacity is 1 lakh tonnes per year. Its employee strength is around 7000.

The Government of India had 100% stake in BALCO prior to disinvestment. In 1997, the Disinvestment Commission classified BALCO as non-core for the purpose of disinvestment and recommended immediate divestment of 40% of the Government stake to a strategic partner, and reduction of the Government stake to 26% within 2 years of the strategic sale, through a domestic public offering. It further recommended divestment of the entire remaining stake at an appropriate time thereafter. The Cabinet accepted the recommendation of the Disinvestment Commission for divestment of 40% stake through a strategic sale and further divestment through the capital market.

Later, in 1998, the Disinvestment Commission revised its recommendation and advised the Government to consider 51% divestment in favour of a strategic buyer along with transfer of management, which was accepted by the Cabinet. The Government thereupon appointed M/s Jardine Fleming as Advisor to assist in the sale of its 51% stake in BALCO to a strategic buyer.

Simultaneously, it was brought to the attention of the Government that BALCO had a bloated equity of Rs. 489 cr. and large unutilised free reserves of the level of Rs. 424 cr. It was suggested by the Ministry of Mines that BALCO's equity be reduced by 50% prior to disinvestment, using its substantial cash surplus. This proposal was accepted. As a result, the Government received Rs. 244 cr. from the capital restructuring of BALCO, and another Rs. 31 cr. as tax on this amount, prior to disinvestment.

The strategic sale process for BALCO started in late 1997, after the first decision of the Government, and finally came to end in 2nd March 2001. The 51% stake was sold to Sterlite Industries, the highest bidder, and fetched the Government Rs. 551.50 cr. The price received was higher than the values indicated by the various methods of valuation used. The Government, thus recovered Rs 827.50 crores from this privatisation against approximately Rs. 10 crores as dividend it used to get against the 51% shares, it used to get in earlier years, during the peak Aluminium cycle.

Post sale, a number of doubts have been raised by various quarters on the disinvestment of BALCO, especially with regard to transparency, valuation and protection of employees interests. However, the entire sale process, including the appointment of Advisor and the approval of the price bid, has been carried out in an extremely transparent manner, in keeping with the highest standards of global practices. Of special mention are the clauses in the Shareholders Agreement with the strategic buyer, which offer adequate protection to all levels of employees with regard to their job safety and severance packages.