NTC's Worli land goes for Rs 474 cr

Indiabulls Infratech today emerged the highest bidder for a 2.39-acre mill plot auctioned by state-owned National Textile Corporation in central Mumbai. Indiabulls bid Rs 474 crore (Rs 4.74 billion) for the Poddar Mill land in up-market Worli through an e-auction, the first by NTC.

The public sector company is selling land in defunct textile units to raise resources for the revival of 21 mills that are seen as potentially viable. The reserve price for the property was Rs 250 crore (Rs 2.5 billion).

At a floor space index of five, the builder can construct 520,542 square feet on the plot that measures 104,108.4 square feet. This translates into a price of Rs 9,105 a square foot as against Rs 7,500 a square foot that Lodha Developers paid for a plot at Wadala, which is a few kilometres away from Poddar Mills.

The prevailing price for constructed residential space in Worli is Rs 20,000-30,000 per square foot.

Other bidders who were in the fray for the property include Lodha Ultimate Buildtech & Farms, DB View Infracon and National Building Construction Corporation, among others. This is the first time that NTC has held an e-auction of land.

The e-auction was launched by Union Textile Minister Dayanidhi Maran on Thursday to bring transparency into the process. NTC plans to sell another property in Worli - a 8.37-acre plot belonging to Bharat Mill - on August 4, for which the reserve price has been fixed at Rs 750 crore (Rs 7.5 billion).

NTC has so far made Rs 4,000 crore (Rs 40 billion) from selling land of 26 defunct mills in Mumbai ad other cities since March 2005.

The money is used for modernisation and capacity building of sick mills along with diversifying into new products and strengthening retail plans.

NTC chairman K Ramachandran Pillai said that he expects to double its spindle capacity from the current 675,000 spindles to 1.2 million spindles during this financial year.