The FIs plan to look into the operations of existing players which have not yet gone to the Board for Financial & Industrial Reconstruction (BIFR) for being declared sick units, institutional sources said.

The companies proposed to be covered under the study include DCL Polyesters, Sanghi Polyesters, Raymond Synthetics, Orissa Synthetics, Modern Syntex, and JCT, according to the sources.

This move by the FIs comes in the wake of fresh financial assistance sought by several man-made fibre manufacturing companies to overcome the difficult times faced by them. Some of the big textile companies, in which the FIs have large exposures, have been in deep trouble for the past two years.

The institutions have been trying to bail out some of these companies but without muchsuccess. For instance, the restructuring package approved by the FIs for the Modern group has failed due to substantial cash losses estimated to be incurred by the company during 1998-99 and the unlikely induction of Rs 100 crore envisaged to be brought in by promoters.

"The prospects of revival of the (Modern) companies in the near future appeared bleak," according to an internal note prepared by the FIs.

The institutions have also decided to undertake a fresh review before further disbursement of financial assistance sanctioned earlier to Modern Syntex (India) Ltd and Modern Terry Towels Ltd.

The FIs have recalled the loans given to JCT Ltd, which suffered a heavy loss in the last financial year. Two well-known north-based companies JK Synthetics and Parasrampuria Synthetics have been declared sick by the BIFR. While JK Synthetics has outstandings of over Rs 850 crore, Parasrampuria owes the FIs over Rs 800 crore.

The OP Lohia-controlled Indo Rama Synthetics (I) Ltd plunged into deeper troubleduring the financial year ended March 31, 1999, with the net loss rising to Rs 159.55 crore. The company's turnover also slipped to Rs 1,375.19 crore.

The company's turnover in 1997-98 stood at Rs 1,448.26 crore, with a net loss of Rs 87.31 crore.

The company has blamed depressed product prices and squeezed margins due to the Asian currency crisis and global slowdown for the sharp fall in profits.

Many promoters are looking for buyers to dispose of their man-made fibre units. The Hari Shankar Singhania-controlled JK Corp recently announced the sale of Orissa Synthetics to Reliance Industries.