CPSU Yule & Co’s Deep Financial Stress Hits 8000 Assam Workers, State Govt Writes to Centre for Help

Assam Government has sought the Centre’s immediate intervention to bail out Andrew
Yule & Co., a public sector undertaking (PSU) under the Heavy Industries Ministry as the PSU is facing acute financial stress and is registering huge losses impacting at least 8000 of its workers and their families.

In a letter addressed to Kamran Rizvi, Secretary, Union Heavy Industries Ministry, Ravi Kota, Chief Secretary of Assam said that several factors including a depressed tea market and the company’s poor ratings have resulted in the company’s irreversible losses.

Yule & Co. has registered a loss of Rs 99.72 crore in the financial year 2023-24, the letter said.

“Despite an infusion of Rs 83 crore over the past two years, the company’s credit rating downgrade has restricted further financial support from banks,“ the letter read.

The company that operates in several sectors including tea, engineering and electrical, has 10 of its 15 tea gardens in Assam and employs
over 8,000 workers.

“The ongoing financial instability threatens to trigger labour unrest, escalating the risk of law and order issues in these tea gardens. Already, delayed payments and statutory dues have led to frequent demonstrations,” the letter further read.

Significant crop losses due to fungal and caterpillar infestations, rising wage costs, and a depressed tea market in 2023-24 are said to be the reasons behind the company’s financial distress.

The Assam Government has urged for intervention in the form of a soft refundable loan or allow asset monetization,
or liquidating government holdings in the PSU.