The Indian government has decided to intervene in negotiations between steel companies and commercial banks regarding a bailout package with the government favoring the extension of repayment periods for existing loans, an official at India’s Ministry of Steel said on Wednesday, March 30.
The ministry official said that, on behalf of the government, the policy advisory and think tank, the National Institute for Transformation of India (NITI), has been directed to participate in ongoing negotiations between debt-stressed domestic steel companies and commercial banks. The NITI has been suggesting extension of repayment periods as an interim bailout package.
At the same time, it has been learned that consultants KPMG and merchant banker SBI Capital Markets Limited has been mandated by the government to help frame a longer-term bailout package for stressed steel companies, though this has not been confirmed by government officials.