4 crore, which is negligible given the average monthly expenses of around Rs.1.5 crore.

Company managing director Shanawaz Ahmad Tak said the government had agreed to pay the firm for a Rs.7.6-crore revival package for five units, while it would divest stake in two; these will be managed on the public-private partnership model.

Tak sounded optimistic about the future and hoped that the government's financial support would help revive the five units. 'The company will be a good source of economy for the state,' he told IANS.

Experts in the state attribute the decline of the group to gross mismanagement and lack of concern by successive state governments.

'The governments never took this unit seriously, which otherwise had a great potential of being a viable venture for the state,' said Mussaddiq Ahmed, a business management professor in Kashmir University.

'The company suffers from gross mismanagement and lack of seriousness. I have heard employees are not even getting regular salaries. What is the point of running these sick units?' Ahmed said.

Perhaps Ahmed's remarks about 'gross mismanagement' are not misplaced. Run an eye through the company's website - http://jkil.gov.in/board.htm - which was perhaps last updated in 2007.

It still names former chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad as chairman of its director board. As a rule, however, the chief minister of the state is chairman of its board of directors and the minister of state industries and commerce is its vice chairman.

(Sarwar Kashani can be contacted at s.kashani@ians.in)