Govt to sell assets of 3 HMT units to offer VRS for employees

The government has finally decided to dispose of all movable and immovable assets of the now defunct units of Hindustan Machine Tools (HMT) and use the proceeds to pay compensation to the employees of these units.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs also gave its approval for offering an attractive VRS / VSS packages at 2007 pay scales and mitigate the hardships being faced by the employees of HMT Watches Ltd, HMT Chinar Watches Ltd and HMT Bearings Ltd and close their operations.

The movable and immovable assets of the companies will be disposed of as per the government policy.

With a cash assistance of Rs427.48 crore, the three loss making subsidiaries of HMT Ltd, namely HMT Watches Ltd, HMT Chinar Watches Ltd, HMT Bearings Ltd, will attain closure after separation of about a thousand employees through attractive VRS /VSS and settlement of their dues, the ministry of heavy industries stated in a release today.

At present, there are 31 central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) under the department of heavy industry engaged in manufacturing, consultancy and contracting services. Out of these, 12 are making profits. The remaining 19 CPSEs are incurring losses.

The department of heavy industry has been undertaking appraisals of each loss making CPSE to assess the prospects of revival. As a part of this exercise, the loss making CPSEs having the potential of turning around are revived and those found chronically sick are disinvested or closed down after payment of due compensation to employees.