On Thursday, C K Birla controller of Hindustan Motors NSE 4.83%, said that the company is planning to strip its manufacturing units in West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh.
They exclaimed the board is deciding on obtaining shareholders’ approval for ‘sale, lease’ or the disposal of the whole or substantially, the whole of the Uttarpara and the Pithampur plant as a going concern.'
Managing Director, Hindustan Motors, Uttam Bose said, “We have been scouting for a strategic investor but the economic slowdown followed by the Covid-19 pandemic derailed our plans. We are in discussion with investors again and again into a JV soon.”
The Hindustan Motor’s Uttarpara Plant, spreading across 795 acres in the outskirts of Kolkata, rolled out the iconic Ambassador including the CNG and LPG variants, commercial vehicle Winner, and the auto components. Also, the company’s Pithampur unit spreading for 30 acres near Indore in Madhya Pradesh, was producing Winner. But production at both units came to a standstill.
The company sold 314 acres from the total of 795 acres of Uttarpara unit to Shriram Properties in 2007 followed by 100 acres to the Mumbai-based Hiranandani Group recently.
It has been a hard time for Hindustan Motors as they have been going through a rough patch because of many reasons including a huge workforce, dipping iconic Ambassador sales, and mounting debt because of the changing preferences. To control the damages, the company has been selling off its immovable assets. Also, it stopped the production of Ambassador Cars from 2014.