West Bengal: Government to give Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Ltd. to private players.

The Narendra Modi government wants to push ahead with plans to get unviable public sector companies off its hands by selling them or forming joint ventures with investors that can run them profitably.

Toward this end, it's planning to sweeten a retirement offer as part of efforts to privatise Kolkata based Hooghly Dock and Port Engineers Ltd. (HDPEL), a shipyard almost 200 years old and among India's oldest. A note in this regard is being drafted for the cabinet's consideration, said a senior government official.

A similar plan was approved last week for the near-defunct Central Inland Water Transport Corp. (CIWTC), another Kolkata-based company. To be sure, the West Bengal government may not be too enamoured of the asset-sale plans, particularly since it has a prickly relationship with the Central government.


ET