Cabinet to decide in a month on shutting down Hindustan Cables: Minister

Union Heavy Industries Minister Geete

UNION Cabinet is likely to decide in a month shutting down terminally sick Hindustan Cables by offering a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) to its 1,500 employees. This was disclosed by Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Anant Geete. "We are in the process of sending the individual proposal for shutting down Hindustan Cables entailing formalities like a voluntary retirement scheme, outstanding dues, etc. The Cabinet may take it up for...
approval in a month's time," Geete told news agency PTI.
The Cabinet had earlier approved the closure of seven terminally sick public sector units, including Hindustan Cables, which have incurred a total loss of around Rs 3,139 crore over a period of time. The ministry was tasked with firming up individual proposals entailing VRS related to the PSUs falling under it, including Hindustan Cables.
But the PSU was back on track after the Defence Ministry approved its takeover by Ordnance Factory Board. The Board for Reconstruction of Public Sector Enterprises (BRPSE) was supposed to take a call on it after taking into account views of all the ministries concerned. Hindustan Cables, set up in 1952 at Rupnarayanpur (West Bengal), has units in different states.
The PSU's units in West Bengal and Hyderabad producing Polythene Insulated Jelly Filled (PIJF) cables had not been in production since January 2003, as there is no requirement of these cables in BSNL/MTNL. Similarly, the unit at Naini, Allahabad producing optical fibre cable had also become obsolete due to change in the product specification.
The PSUs where closure had earlier been approved are HMT Bearings, Tungabhadra Steel Products, Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Co, HMT Watches, HMT Chinar Watches, Hindustan Cables and Spices Trading Corporation Ltd.
Earlier in January, the Union Government decided to shut down terminally sick Hindustan Cables by offering an "attractive VRS" to its 1,500 employees.
 "We will close down Hindustan Cables after offering an attractive VRS package. We have sent the proposal to Cabinet. A decision is expected in 2-3 months," Geete said.
Last month, the government decided to shut Tungabhadra Steel after the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) gave the nod to its individual closure proposal.
"Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked us to dispose of the assets and settle liabilities of Tungabhadra Steel within three months’ time," Geete said.
Established way back in 1952, Hindustan Cables Limited (HCL), a PSU under the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, has grown from a single unit, single product entity to a multi-unit multi-product company with remarkable track record of pioneering feats. The PSU was set up at Rupnarainpur to make the country self-reliant in the manufacture and supply of various types of telecom cables.
The PSU with an investment of about Rs. 576 crore, has grown into an organization with units located at Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh, Naini Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh and Rupnarainpur in West Bengal.
The PSU took over management of Machine Tool Works, Narendrapur in Calcutta from Cycle Corporation of India in 1984. As on January 1, 2013, the PSU has a manpower of 1872.
The PSU’s main products include jelly filled and fibre optic cables. It has one of the largest capacities of 120 Lac* conductor kilometers (LCKM) of Jelly filled cables. Manufacturing capacity for fibre optic cables is 40,000 fibre kilometers (FKM) per annum.
The company has set up manufacturing of producing 2.5 million sets of telephone cords and computer cords at Rupnarainpur.