NTC finds no buyer for Finlay mills, again

The sale of National Textile Corporation's 10.4-acre Finlay Mills at Parel seems to be jinxed. For the second time in the past three months, the public undertaking failed in its attempt to hive off this prime property.

On Tuesday, only one bidder - Tamil Nadu-based Christy Textiles Products Pvt Ltd - turned up at the NTC's headquarters at Ballard Estate in south Mumbai. However, its bid was rejected because it submitted an earnest money deposit (EMD) of just Rs 1 crore when the tender document stipulated this amount to be Rs 100 crore.

NTC had set a reserve price of Rs 710 crore for this mill. In December, when bids were first opened, the highest offer was just Rs 405 crore made by Mumbai-based developer D B Realty (Nine Paradise Hotels Pvt Ltd). At that time, NTC had fixed the reserve price at a hefty Rs 1,065 crore. D B Realty's bid was rejected on the grounds that it was much below the reserve price.

Looking at the real estate market conditions, NTC was forced to reduce the reserve price by 30% when it decided to reinvite the bids. "The property market is bad. We will wait for another three months before we bring this mill back on the market,'' NTC's chairman and MD K Ramachandran Pillai told TOI.

It is not known what price the sole bidder, Christy Textiles, quoted on Tuesday, because its bid was not opened after officials found its papers not in order.

This is the sixth NTC mill to be put up for sale in Mumbai. Three years ago, at the height of the property boom, the corporation sold five of its mills in central Mumbai, which fetched it Rs 2,200 crore.