new delhi top global players including tata steel essar group and arcelormittal are learnt to have submitted bids to acquire debtladen essar steel which is going through the insolvency resolution processessar steel india ltd an integrated steel producer with an installed capacity of 10 million tonne per annum mtpa is undergoing corporate insolvency resolution process cirp under the provisions of insolvency and bankruptcy codethe expression of interest eoi for the company was invited by october 23essar group has submitted eoi for essar steel a resolution plan will be submitted to irp within the scheduled time frame an essar group spokesperson saidasked about the rationale for bidding the spokesperson said ibc allows promoters to bid for their company at the nclt and there are no limitationshe added that the entire process is on purely commercial basis and the final selection is done based on the highest bid offered for the nclt companythis practice of promoters being permitted to bid in bankruptcyinsolvency cases is prevalent in the us uk and many developed and developing countries the spokesperson saidmeanwhile a source said essar group participating in the bid has submitted eoi for essar steel along with a letter of comfort from russias vtb capital which is a financial services company it is the investment arm of the vtb groupa global financial services provider the vtb group comprises over 20 credit institutions and financial companies operating across all key areas of the financial marketsthe group operates a large international network and the majority shareholder of the vtb bank is the russian government which owns 609 per cent of the voting shareswhen contacted with regard to participation in the bid a tata steel spokesperson said we keep looking at these options these are all stressed assets in the country and as a process we keep looking at these assetsa query sent to worlds largest steelmaker arcelormittal however remained unanswereda vedanta spokesperson when asked in this regard said the company has not shown any expression of interestessar steel is among the largest single location steel producers with a 10 mtpa liquid steel capacity besides it has beneficiation and pellet making capacity of 20 mtpa spread across vizag and paradeepthe company said it has made gross investment of over rs 5000 crore to set up the facilities besides shareholders have infused equity of over rs 16000 crore till dateit employs approximately 4500 persons directly and more than 30000 people indirectlyamong stateowned firms when contacted a sail spokesperson denied having any knowledge of the steel psu submitting any expression of intereststeel minister chaudhary birender singh had last month when asked about plans for psus acquiring stressed assets of companies in the sector recommended for insolvency had told pti that as far as stressed assets are concerned only a few companies are from the steel sector one of the psus made request for acquiring to the finance ministry in this regardpromoted by ruias who recently exited essar oil essar steel was among the initial 12 companies identified by the