The divestment programme of Steel Authority of India Ltd for the current financial year is yet to take off.

While the exercise undertaken for the divestment of Iisco, Viswesvaraya Iron & Steel Plant and the Rourkela fertiliser plant has come a cropper, the lone bid for the Salem stainless steel plant has only now been submitted.

Still, SAIL has made close to Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) through sale of assets. It has been selling houses owned by the company to its employees.

The project -- SAIL scheme for leasing of houses to employees -- was initiated in 2001. In the last two years, the company has garnered Rs 318.56 crore from the scheme.

Apart from mobilisation of additional resources, the scheme helps in the realisation of the cost of developments and construction of these houses/flats towards which SAIL has made substantial investment.

"The project is on and we will continue to lease out the properties that are lying idle at various units of our company. Large number of houses were built at the inception period which have little use today and we realised that this could prove to be a critical source of revenue," says SAIL chairman V S Jain.

SAIL has a total of about 1,40,000 housing units in its various townships, of which 13,819 houses have been leased under its scheme for leasing of houses to employees. The scheme provides for leasing of houses to employees, ex-employees and spouses.

Apart from houses the company is also focusing on leasing out plots of land for shops and educational centres. The company had appointed HDFC for the assessment of the value of the real estate property.

SAIL is leaving no stones unturned in a desperate revival bid. The company realises that streamlining its huge assets, would mean generation of substantial revenue, which in turn could help the company in changing its fortunes.

"SAIL has the advantage of having huge assets which are lying idle at its various units, which can be utilised to garner added revenue," says Jain.

One of the key areas that SAIL has identified is its large number of residential units and idle patches of land that it owns at places like Bhillai, Durgapur, Rourkela, Bokaro, Salem, Bhadravati and Ranchi.

"With the trimming of workforce, we would not require so many houses and therefore we are leasing these properties that are lying idle to our employees," he says.