NEW DELHI: Even as the day of the e-auction of the second batch of FM Phase III on 25 October 2016 approaches, the Government has released the earnest money deposit (EMD) by the pre-qualified bidders and the initial eligibility points (IEP) of each of these.

According to a list put up on the website of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Entertainment Network (India) Limited of the Times Group tops the list with an earnest money deposit of over Rs 375 million (Rs 37.5 crore) thus gaining 15,000 eligibility points.

This is followed by Ushodaya Enterprises Private Limited with around Rs 133.3 million (around Rs 13.33 crore) as EMD,getting 5331 IEP and Kal Radio Limited with EMD of jRs 133 million (Rs 13.3 crore) and 5320 IEP.

Alll the eleven bidders have put in an EMD of less than Rs 130 million (Rs 13 crore).

The list of Pre-qualified Bidders for e-Auction of Second Batch of Private FM Radio Phase-III Channels is:  

As stipulated in the Notice Inviting Applications of 20 June 2016, bidders are required to submit their bid for at least one city in the first Clock Round. Any Bidder failing to do so in the first Clock Round will forfeit its EMD in its entirety.

The Ministry said any assistance in this regard is available on contact helpdesk +91-124- 430 2039 or support@c1eauctions.com.
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The second batch of FM Radio Phase-III channels comprises 266 channels in 92 cities. The channels include 227 channels in 69 fresh cities and 39 channels in 23 existing cities which had remained unsold as there were no bids.

As in the first stage, the e-auctions will be conducted by C1 India Private Ltd. A Pre Bid conference was held on 11 July 2016, following by training and then a mock auction earlier this month.

The first payment of 25 per cent of the Successful Bid Amount will be made within five calendar days, and the remaining within 15 calendar days of the close of the Auction and notification of successful bidders by the Government.

The e-auction of the first batch of private FM radio phase-III comprising 135 channels in 69 Phase-II existing cities commenced on 27 July and was completed on 9 September after 125 rounds of bidding.

Out of these, no bid was received in 13 cities having 26 channels, and partial bids were received in 9 cities with 12 channels remaining unsold, which Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley justified on the ground of “the demand - supply based market economics and bidder’s strategy”.

However, he told Parliament on 4 December 2015 that the Ministry had received the full payment of Rs.1055.9 crore notified on 16 September by 1 October.

Against the cumulative reserve price of Rs.550.18 crore for 135 channels, the government received aggregate provisional commitment of Rs.1156.9 crore for 97 channels in 56 cities. Out of 97 channels, 53 channels in 35 cities were sold at a premium over reserve price whereas 44 channels in 21 cities were sold at reserve price.

The Ministry had decided to conduct e-auction of FM Radio Channels in batches under the extant FM Phase-III Policy in view of the large number of cities and channels.

For the second batch, the Simultaneous Multiple Round Ascending e-auction process will be carried out for allotting the FM channels, conducted over the Internet. Bidders will be able to access the Electronic Auction System to be used for participation in the Auctions using web browsing software: Internet Explorer 11.x, or Mozilla 34.x. The EAS is a designated computer resource for the receiving of electronic records under the provisions of Section 13(2) of the Information Technology Act 2000, as amended from time to time.

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