JSPL not in a hurry to sell non-core assets

Steel major JSPL has put on hold its expansion plans and said the company is not in a “tearing hurry” to sell some its non-core assets.

“At this moment we are not going for any expansion. The idea is to fully utilise assets we have built up. So no expansion at this moment and no capital expenditure for a while,” Jindal Steel & Power Ltd (JSPL) Managing Director and CEO, Ravi Uppal, told reporters here.

He is part of the CII delegation to Tokyo for India-Japan strategic dialogue.

On the sale of non-core assets he said, “Whenever we get a fair price then we will look at it. When we talk about disinvestment of assets or the assets which we wanted to monetise partly, certainly we will look at them.”

He added, “It is very difficult to say when. We are not in a tearing hurry. All depends on when we get a good party or value for the assets.”

In a bid to cut its debt burden, the firm had earlier said that it will sell some of its non-core assets.

“Sale of non-core assets as identified by the company — Aircraft sale, Bolivia settlement and Botswana stake sale — are proceeding as per plan and we expect these transactions to be completed in 2015-16 fiscal,” the company had earlier said.

Asked if the company is looking at some announcement in the Budget for the steel industry, which is facing a challenging time, he said, “most immediate we need from them (government) is the kind of protection done because of reckless steel imports from China.”

“I think we need minimum import price which government was contemplating but we are still waiting for the announcement,” he said adding “we are also talking to the government about 5/5 scheme which being made available to different power and steel companies.”

A delegation of industry body CII along with Power and Coal minister Piyush Goyal is on a Japan visit to participate in various discussions on key areas across the energy value chain including renewable clean coal and energy efficiency.