Usha Martin jumps 8% on plans to cut debt

Usha Martin's move to sell its steel business gave its stock a spark, which rallied 8 per cent on Tuesday. On Monday, its board decided to explore the sale of its steel business to help deleverage the company. The scrip was up 7.80 per cent at Rs 31.80 at around 9.20 am. The BSE Sensex rose 76 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 35,560. Its board reconstituted a committee of independent directors to appoint investment banks, consultants and advisors to help "evaluate proposals and oversee the process for sale of steel business". The steel producer also said any actual sale of the business would only be undertaken by it after due consideration and by following due process of law by obtaining appropriate approvals from the board, regulators, shareholders and lenders. However, lenders led by the State Bank of India had in April last year pushed the board to remove Prashant Jhawar from the post of non-executive chairman. The board subsequently appointed G N Bajpai as the non-executive chairman.