The top brass of Balasore alloys’, a company under the flagship of the Pramod Mittal-led Ispat group, resigned amid a cash crisis. Promoters had committed to infuse funds in July 2020 but failed to do so.
The Odisha-based ferroalloy producer idled its five furnaces after the power supply to the plant turned off due to non-payment of electricity bills in April last year. The company has an annual capacity to produce 150,000mn mt ferroalloys. Trading in the company’s shares has also been suspended by the Indian stock exchange.
On March 24, Balasore Alloys’ Nikunj Pansari Director-Finance and CFO resigned from the board. Due to financial crunch and non-payment of salaries, several directors have also resigned from the company’s board.
Employees of the plant have written a letter to the union steel minister urging him to clear their salary dues, which is estimated at Rs500 crore ($68mn). The steelmaker has unpaid electricity bills of Rs23crore ($3mn) and the power supplier has filed a case against the company in the Odisha High Court.
($1=Rs73.5)