The decision of the Centre for strategic sale of Dredging Corporation of India (DCI) may put a question mark over the proposed dredging harbour and training institute project at Antarvedi in East Godavari district.
Though the State government in principle agreed to allot 200 acres for the project after DCI, which has its head office in Visakhapatnam, signed MoU at the India Maritime Summit in Mumbai held in April, 2016, the recent decision of Union Cabinet to sell the entire equity of the Central government has led to doubts over future of the project. DCI had promised to invest around ₹800 crore on the project. “We are apprehensive that it may not take off as the new buyers will have commercial interest in mind,” a senior official of the company told The Hindu on condition of anonymity.
One of top companies
DCI is one of the top 10 dredging companies in the world. After the Centre’s decision, there is a buzz that an Abu Dhabi-based dredging company has shown interest to take over DCI. DCI No-Executive Employees’ Union honorary president V.S. Padmanabha Raju said the new buyer would try to acquire the assets as well as the brand name of DCI for a throwaway price and force many employees to take retirement on the plea of ‘resource crunch’ and downsizing. DCI, a category-I mini ratna company, was set up in 1976. It has a paid-up capital of ₹28 crore and the Government of India has a stake of 73.47%. It has played a key role in extending dredging services to all the major ports and the Indian Navy and has been earning profits since its inception.
Mr. Raju said once it was disinvested 100% there is a possibility that the new management may shift its head office from the city to Mumbai and other place convenient to it. DCI is the only listed company with headquarters in Visakhapatnam. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited, which has been selected for 10% disinvestment to start with, may go for IPO anytime.
