That's when the bids for the purchase of the Jupiter Mills' sanctioned floor space index of 59, 903.51 square metres located in central Mumbai will be opened.
It is not all shutters down for the mill hands though. Around 10,000 workers employed in eight of the 25 NTC-run mills in the city can look forward to sustained employment opportunities under a recast plan.
A senior NTC official said, "The two subsidiaries of NTC -- South Maharashtra Corporation that own 13 mills and the North Maharashtra Corporation that owns 12 mills -- are currently undertaking a modernisation programme that will revive and introduce state-of-the art technological inputs in four mills each in their respective mill blocks.
NTC has raised an excess of Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) in 2003-2004 through Union government backing that was used to clear the voluntary retirement scheme dues of the workers employed in the remaining 17 mills that were closed down."
After Jupiter, four more mills will go on the block and the funds so raised would be used to meet the modernisation plans for the eight mills that will continue operations.
"Some of the usable machinery from the closed mills, new machines and technological innovation will be introduced as part of the recast plan," the official informed.
All the 25 mills owned by NTC had been referred to the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction that recommended the closure of 17 mills and suggested revival programme for the remaining eight mills.
The official further added that even as the BIFR revival scheme for the eight mills had overrun its time frame, the sale of Jupiter Mill's 11.5 acres would bring in the much needed funding to finance the revival scheme for the eight mills.
The revived mills include the four high-priced mill lands located in the central Mumbai district----Apollo. Finlay, New City and Goldmore mills out of the 13 controlled by the SMC subsidiary of NTC.
After Jupiter Mills is hived off on 24 March, the NTC plans to work out the sale of the developable land in the remaining four mills for which the permission for sale has already been received.
These include the Mumbai Textile Mill, Elphinstone Textile mill, Kohinoor No 3 and part of the surplus land in Appollo Mills.. The funds from the proceeds of these land sales will be ploughed back into the NTC for reviving the eight mills.
The sale of Jupiter Mills is expected to give a fillip to the stalled development plans of the remaining 16 closed mills of NTC that are awaiting a comprehensive development programme, which is currently being fleshed out by the high profile committee appointed by the Maharashtra government.