Finance Firm Buying Public Sector Central Electronics Ltd. for Cheap Has Links to BJP Leaders https://thewire.in/political-economy/central-electronics-bjp-cel-sharda-nandal
Nandal Finance and Leasing, the bidder at the centre of the storm, is owned by the promoters of Sharda University, who have had business dealings with the family of a BJP treasurer in Uttar Pradesh.
Intrigued by these patterns – alleged under-valuation, employees challenging the disinvestment in court, an unknown firm picking up a national asset, both bidding groups having links – The Wire took a closer look at CEL’s divestment trajectory.
We found two things. One, CEL is indeed being undervalued. And two, the promoters of the winning firm, Nandal, also have business dealings with a senior BJP leader in Uttar Pradesh.
the firm is the sole supplier of “phase control modules” for the Akash missile system and weapon-locating radars. In 2019, India was importing one of these components at Rs 50-70 lakhs apiece.