New Delhi: In a major development, the Department of Pharmaceuticals under the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilizers has decided to move a cabinet note for transferring Rajasthan Drugs & Pharmaceuticals Limited (RDPL), a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) to the Rajasthan government.
"The approval of the Committee of Ministers is being sought for transfer of RDPL to the government of Rajasthan instead of closure. Thereafter, the department may move a cabinet note," a senior government official privy to the development said. Last year, government has decided to close two pharma PSUs and disinvest the other three.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals has five PSUs, out of which earlier it was decided to close down two PSUs namely Indian Drugs and Pharmaceuticals Limited (IDPL) and RDPL.
The government has also decided to strategically disinvest the other three PSUs including loss making Hindustan Antibiotics Limited (HAL), and profit making Bengal Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals Limited (BCPL) and Karnataka Antibiotics & Pharmaceuticals Limited (KAPL).
It is worth mentioning that the Central Government has set up a committee of ministers in 2019 to take necessary decisions pertaining to closure and strategic sales of pharma PSUs. The official said that HAL needs to be strategically disinvested after meeting its liabilities from sale of its surplus land.
"HAL has identified 87.7 acres land as surplus land, out of which 3.5 acres land has been sold to the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) at negotiated price of Rs 42 crores. It is proposed to refer HAL to Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) for strategic investment," the official said.
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Whereas in respect of IDPL, which is under closure, the department is proposing to transfer the free hold lands to the special purpose vehicle (SPV) to be constituted for the purpose of assets monetization by the Department of Public Enterprises (DPE) and seek budgetary support for meeting its pending liabilities.
"The transfer of lease hold of IDPL land at Rishikesh to Government of Uttarakhand is in advance stage. Valuation of plants and machinery have been done and board's approval has been obtained. Lease of the land has already expired. The matter has now been taken by the Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers with the Uttarakhand government to expedite the process," the official said.
According to the Department of Pharmaceuticals its PSU division has proposed funds as sought by IDPL (Rs 6988.50 crore) and HAL (Rs 1038.24 crore) for meeting various liabilities like outstanding liabilities of various banks, financial institutions and unsecured liabilities.
The pending employees dues (serving /retired) VRS) of IDPL, HAL and RDPL have been settled by providing budgetary support as loans in FY 2019-20, 2020-21 and 2021-22 and EPFO interest payment of HAL employees (Rs 76.00 crore) released in 2020-21. "Now, only the minimum amount of Rs 5.30 crore needed for meeting contingent expenditure, court cases etc has been provided for HAL and IDPL in BE 2022-23," the official said.
