MCF revival proposal gathering dust

The company went to the BIFR fold 5 years back and since then three attempts by the BIFR to find a solution had failed. Due to lack of fresh funds, the company8217;s lone plant in Mangalore is on the verge of a collapse due to continued corrosion and lack of funds to replace all equipment. The financial institutions, led by IDBI and ICICI, havealready frozen the bank accounts of the company. FIs have also imposed a retention on all collections of the company. The company owes around Rs 100 crore to the FIs, of which, as per MCF8217;s 1998-99 annual report, Rs 28 crore has been retained by the FIs. The outstanding debts are now pegged at Rs 36 crore.

The UB group, which has taken over the loss-making company in 1990, has submitted a proposal to the lenders for a one-time settlement of the pending debts 8211; which has been rejected by the financial institutions. The FIs are not keen to either re-schedule the loan or waive interest on the accumulated loans, they add. The promoters, on the other hand, want the FIs to adopt a lenient view on the entire issue.