The scheduled announcement of two new franchises for the fourth edition of the Indian Premier League turned out to be an anti-climax on Sunday,with the leagues commissioner Lalit Modi declaring the current tender process null and void following criticism from prospective buyers on a few stringent clauses. Modi said a fresh tender,minus the contentious clauses,would be released on March 9,with the final deadline for submitting the bids shifted to March 21. The existing tenders were not opened at the IPL governing council meeting in Mumbai and were returned to the bidders. The relaxation was because we received letters from many companies who had expressed interest but said that the $1 billion net worth criterion was one which owners of the existing franchises were not asked for earlier, Modi said at a brief press conference. They asked why they were asked for the new criteria,which eliminates them from bidding. the clause has been amended to give more people the opportunity to bid. The IPLs governing council has now decided there will be a reduction of the advance deposit from $100 million to a $10 million,which will have to be submitted 24 hours before the bids are opened. Also,the winning bidder will not have to submit a bank guarantee of 100 per cent of the amount within 48 hours,as had been decided,but only 10 per cent of their total bid. The minimum bid amount,however,remains the same at $225 million. According to sources,only three bidders came forward for the two teams. The first was a consortium fronted by Saif Ali Khan,Kareena and Karisma Kapoor,Punes Panchshil group of industries and Venugopal Dhoot,of Videocon,who were bidding from Pune,the second was the Adani Group for Ahmedabad,and finally Jaypee Group for an undisclosed venue. While those who had submitted the bids may or may not be happy with this decision,theres little they can do as the IPL,according to a clause in the tender form,reserves the right to cancel or amend the process at any stage without having to give any reasons. At least two others,who had pulled out due to the big-money clauses,told The Indian Express that they would have another look at the new tenders. We first need to study the revised guidelines. If the stringent rules are relaxed,we will definitely be interested in submitting a revised bid, says Abhijit Sarkar of the Sahara Group. George Thomas,director of the Muthoot Group which was keen on establishing a franchise in Kerala,was more guarded. We will have to see the new terms and conditions. They have relaxed the bank guarantee fee and the intitial payment but there may be other new clauses which we have to look into. The matter will then go back to the board before a decision is taken, he said. Venugopal Dhoot,managing director of Videocon,said,I was hoping to go away as one of the franchise owners,but it cant be helped. I have no grievances though we had fulfilled all requirements. I will be there for the fresh bid in Chennai, Dhoot said.
