Gourav Vallabh, Congress spokesperson, in a recent press conference claimed that the valuation of the CEL was between Rs 957 Cr and Rs 1,600 Cr. Congress also claims that the company that has bought CEL only employs 10 people, and also has a case pending against it in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal
Congress has accused the Narendra Modi headed government of underselling the country’s Central Electronics Limited (CEL). The party also claims that CEL has been sold to a company that has no experience of working in the domain of what CEL does.
Gourav Vallabh, Congress spokesperson, in a recent press conference claimed that the valuation of the CEL was between Rs 957 Cr and Rs 1,600 Cr. The government, however, has sold the PSU to Nandal Finance and Leasing Pvt. Ltd for only Rs 210 crore. He also claims that the cost of land owned by CEL is alone more than what the government has sold the PSU for. It is worth mentioning here that CEL owns owns 2.02 lakh square meters of land in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The value of this land, as per Vallabh, is Rs 440 Cr.
“We demand that this sale be stopped. The promoters of Nandal Finance are also linked to a private university in Noida-Ghaziabad region and are known for their proximity to BJP leaders,” said Vallabh.
He added, “The government has sold a strategic PSU manufacturing satellite system, electric generator fuse for hand grenades and bullet proof materials for body armours to a furniture company.”
Congress also claims that the company that has bought CEL only employs 10 people, and also has a case pending against it in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal. The government of India had approved the bid by Nandal Finance and Leasing Pvt Ltd to acquire state-owned Central Electronics Ltd for Rs 210 crore in November 2021.
The government, in an official statement, had said the decision was taken by a committee comprising of Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman, and Jitendra Singh. The reserve price for the deal was Rs 194 crore and the government received financial bids of Rs 210 crore from Nandal Finance and Leasing Pvt. Ltd and for Rs 190 crore from JPM Industries Ltd.
The process to divest the government’s stake in the company had started in 2016. After a previous privatization attempt by failed to take off in 2019, the Centre initiated the process in February 2020 through a preliminary information memorandum and a request for expressions of interest.
