Sikkim govt to lease out SITCO

Gangtok, Mar 11(UNI) The Sikkim government is contemplating to lease out the ailing state-owned Sikkim Time Corporation Ltd(SITCO) to a private entrepreneur to revive the company.

The state Minister for Commerce and Industries R B Subba told UNI that a Cabinet Sub-Committee has been constituted and asked to submit a report on the company after assessing all aspects. A decision would be taken only after the cabinet sub-committee submitted its report, the minister said.

SITCO was set up in 1976 in technical collaboration with the Hindustan Machine Tools(HMT) for assembling watches.

It diversified its activities and expanded its operations into four units and paid Rs 26.80 crore in form of dividends, duties, advertisements and taxes, both to the state and the Centre.

But the company suffered lossess during the last five years. A recent report prepared by the Commerce and Industries department attributed the loss to tough competition from organised sector, availability of cheap Chinese watches, lack of promotional activities and rise in the wages of casual labourers.

Insufficient loading by collaborates and non-availability of working capital were the reasons cited in the report for the loss suffered by the company.

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