While IDBI sources maintained that the meeting has been postponed for lack of quorum, industry sources felt the decision to postpone the meeting has distinct political overtones. "The meeting will now be held on March 23 when the Parliament will not be in session. It will be easier for the institution to pass the steel package as there will not be any noise in Parliament," sources said.

IDBI chairman GP Gupta was not available for comment. The institution's executive director, TM Nagarajan, who holds the steel portfolio, also could not be reached. According to IDBI insiders, one of the two Government nominees on the institution's board - special secretary(banking) CM Vasudev and industry secretary Ajit Kumar -- was unavailable for the March 18 board meeting. A few other directors were also not available and hence the postponement, sources said. The meeting was originally slated to take place on March 8 but was postponed to March 18 "for lack of quorum". The first meeting of the steel sub-committee was held in Delhi in the first week of March.

Though IDBI officials were unavailable for comment, sources felt that the institution has been subjected to "all kinds of pressure" ever since it has embarked on the preparation of a Rs 2,130-crore revival package for the 14 steel companies. The controversy was kicked off by the January 5 meeting on the Essar Steel "bail out" at IDBI's Delhi office, which was convened by former advisor to the finance minister, Mohan Guruswamy. About Rs 24,500 crore has already been pumped into these 14 projects, sources said.

However, sources close to the steel sub-committee denied the existence of any kind of political pressure. "Wehave called for information on all the steel projects. We are in the process of formalising our recommendations. We need at least one more meeting to finalise the recommendations," sources said.

The IDBI board had constituted the four-member sub-committee chaired by chairman GP Gupta and comprising former SBI chairman Dipankar Basu, CII director-general Tapan Das and chartered accountant Basant Raj to decide on additional and fresh assistance sought by several steel projects. Eleven steel projects are to be completed between April and October 1999. These projects include Ispat Metallics India , CR coils (of Llyods Steel), CRC project (from Sri Vishnupriya Industries), Mideast Integrated pig-iron project, and the HR coil project of Rajinder Steel.