RPINDIA ARCHIVE
PGMA
invites Indian investors to join bidding for privatized gov't
assets
MUMBAI, India -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has invited
Indian businessmen to participate in the bidding for state
properties under the government’s privatization program.
The President extended the invitation during her meeting
Thursday with members of the Confederation of Indian Industries
at the Taj Majal Hotel.
"We invite Indian corporations to participate in the
bidding for our asset privatization and to invest in Philippine
government-owned and controlled
corporations," the President said.
She said the Philippines has cut red tape and liberalized
its visa policy to make it easier for investors and visitors
to enter the country.
A good example of a privatized government asset is the Iligan
Steel Mill in Iligan City which was acquired by India’s
Ispat Industries Ltd., owner of Global Steelworks Philippines,
for $225 million in 2004.
Before it was privatized, Iligan Steel was operated by the
National Steel Corporation (NSC).
Ispat Industries managing director Vinod Mittal paid a courtesy
call on the President Thursday afternoon at the Taj Majal
Hotel and briefed her on the status of his company's operation
in Iligan.
Mittal said they have spent hundreds of millions of dollars
in upgrading the Iligan steel mill, already the largest single
investment so far of an Indian company in the country.
Ispat Industries' Iligan steel mill, which has an annual
output of three million metric tons (MTs), supplies the requirements
for cold rolled coils and flat steel products in the Philippines
and other countries.
|
